


Birds with Broken wings can’t fly. A Robins story

by Broken_arrow32



Category: DC Comics, Original Work
Genre: DC comics - Freeform, Death, Story, batfam, batman under the red hood - Freeform, dc, dc story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-27 01:36:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 26
Words: 33,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21110546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broken_arrow32/pseuds/Broken_arrow32
Summary: Nightwing, also known as billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne’s ward, Dick Grayson, was on an off world mission when his little brother, Jason Todd and the new robin, was kidnapped by the clown prince of crime and brutally murdered. Dick grieved and mourned the loss of his brother for what felt like for ever. But things started to lighten up when a little boy named Tim Drake worked his way into Dicks life. And then someone else showed up and started personally targeting Dick and his Father figure. Dick had so many questions, but one stood above all others.Who was the man with the red hood?





	1. Metal and skin.

**Author's Note:**

> hi! Thanks for clicking on my story and reading it! updates will be every sunday at 12:0pm eastern (Canadian) time! You can find more works by me and extended works on Wattpad under the same username! Enjoy!

The breezy, crisp air of a shadowy April night was accompanied by the sound of crunching leaves and speeding vehicles as Batman rushed down the roads out to a distant warehouse in Sarajevo. Inside the warehouse, Batman's sidekick Robin, also known as billionaire Bruce Wayne's ward Jason Todd, was in grave danger and facing potentially fatal peril. 

”HeheheHhahahHAHAHAHAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAAAA. Haha I do have to have to admit, this is kind of fun, kiddo! I hold rehearsals, you come in, and we do our parts! Perhaps we should put this on Broadway, heheehHhahahahHAHAHA!" The Joker laughed his terrifyingly sick laugh, gripping a crowbar in his gloved hands. 

While Joker did his spiel, Jason lied on the cold hard ground, praying that his mentor would show up to save him, but until then, he knew he had to stay strong and fight back with what little strength he had left. 

Batman, speeding through the cold along the gravel roads, was cursing the Joker in every way he could under his breath, swearing he'd never let his little bird get in the hands of a psychotic murderous sociopath ever again. 

"Nawww, that looked like it really hurt, kiddo." Joker smiled sinisterly "So, why don't we try this?" Joker smiled even wider as metal hit skin once more and a sickening crack filled the room. 

"Hoah, now hold on, that looked like it hurt a lot more, son. So let's try to clear this up, ok, pumpkin pie? What hurts more, A, or B? Forehand, or backhand?" 

Robin tried to speak, but what came out was mere gasps off air. 

”Heheh what was that, lil Jayjay? I think you may have a collapsed lung, that always impedes the oratory." Joker chuckled as he knelt down to Robin and ruffled the young vigilante's hair. 

Robins only response was to spit blood into the jokers face smugly. To this, Joker griped Robins hair roughly in his hand, reefed his head back, and shoved Robins face into the hard, cold, cement floor, causing a sickening crack to fill the room as blood almost instantly started to spill from the young sidekicks nose. 

“Now that was just plain rude. The first brat blunder at least had a set of manners, kid." Joker seethed as he pulled out a cloth to wipe the blood off his chin. 

To this, Robin shifted his head, and did nothing more than smirk challengingly at his captor. 

”Tt. Perhaps I'll have to teach a lesson so you can be more like him, perhaps then people would like you more, tweety-bird." Joker monologued with a scoff, seeming to do nothing but bore the young bird in his clutches, as Robin simply rolled his eyes and kept smirking. 

"Mm. Nah. I'm just going to keep beating you with this crowbar, and see how that works out, Jayjay, whadduhay say?" Joker decided as he burst into a fit of sickening, insane laughter. 

Joker put his foot on Robins shoulder, shoving it toward the floor as the boy was on an angle with his hands being cuffed behind him. All the while Joker kept laughing his terrifying laugh as the sound of metal hitting skin filled the room once more followed by inevitable cries of pain. 

Batman was closing in on the warehouse, desperate to save his young protege. He wasn’t willing to lose his family twice, he couldn’t bear that pain, and he wouldn’t be able to tell his eldest, Nightwing about how he failed to save his little brother. 

Joker shoved Robin aside into the Shadows, near the back of the room and started walking towards the door, shrugging his coat on. 

”Ok kiddo, I gotta go. It’s been fun though right?” Joker smirked sinisterly as he turned to look at the boy wonder. 

”When he got no response he continued. 

”Well, maybe a smidge more fun for me then you, I’m just guessing since your being awful quiet. I hope your not ignoring me over there, that’s awfully rude.” Joker opened the warehouse door and stepped outside into the cool April breeze. 

“Anywho, be a good little boy, stay in school, dont forget to do your homework, and be in bed by nine and listen to your old grumpy bat. And hey! Please tell the big man I said.... hello.” Joker said as he burst into spine chilling laughter making the young bird cringe. 

The door closed and Jason sighed in relief. Jason roled onto his back, though that proved difficult with the pain he was in, tossed his knees over his head and roled backward so he was in a kneeling position and slid his hands down toward his feet, threading them through the handcuffs so he had his hands in front of him, rather than behind. He pushed himself up off the ground and willed himself to stand though he had hunchced over, his head hanging. He slowly raised his head and looked at the door, realizing he was on the opposite side of the room. Jason tried to take a step to walk toward the door, but as soon as he had moved his leg, he collapsed on the ground and was back to where he started. Realizing he was too weak to stand and walk, he sighed softly, and resorted to pulling himself across the room, leaving streaks of blood from his wounds in his wake. 

Bruce pulled up to the bottom of a small hill, and jumped off his bike, letting it fall to the ground as he ran up the hill as fast as he could. Robin pulled himself over to the bottom of the door and reached for the handle. He tugged at it in hopes that the door would swing open, but whimpered desperately when the locked door didn’t budge. He got a firm grip on the doorknob and pulled himself up and shifted to rest his back against the cool door. He clutched his ribs as pain seared all through his body and rested the back of his head against the door. Robin closed his eyes and focused on his laboured and hitched breathing, though breathing was proven somewhat difficult with his damaged lung, until he heard a rythmic beeping in the background and let his eyes dart around the room, looking for the source of the noise. His eyes widened with fear when he noticed a bomb tucked up against the wall to his left, slowly and agonizingly counting down. 

8 

7 

Batman neared the very top of the hill, hed make it in time. 

5 

4 

Jason managed to Will himself to speak, knowing he woudnt make it out alive, and whispered “I’m sorry Bruce...” as tears welled up in his eyes. 

3 

Batman got the the top and started to run towards the door. 

2 

Bruce reached for the door knob 

0 

Bruce yelled out in shock as he was blasted back and his body hit the ground that was now covered in ashes. 

”No! I can’t be to late! Jason!” Was the thought that kept circling Batman’s mind as he shoved wall panels and rubble aside looking for his partner and son. Batman moved one last wall panel and gasped at the limp body on the ground. 

”No......” 

Batman sunk to his knees and picked up the body bridal style. 

”...Jason...” 

Batman could feel the tears in his eyes and didn’t bother to try and hold them back. This was his son. How was he going to tell Dick? Or Alfred? Both boys had been like grandchildren to the old man that cared so much for them. 

Bruce sat there a few more minuets before standing up and calling Alfred to Remote pilot the bike back to the cave and send the Batwing. Batman walked down the hill and set his bird carefully on the ground and examined him. That’s when he noticed a little piece of paper tucked into Jason’s cape at the collar. He tenderly took it out and unfolded it. It read 

”Jokes on you Batsy! I hope you enjoy explaining this to the first brat! Hahaha!” In barely decipherable writing that was unmistakably the Jokers. 

“You’ll pay for this Joker. I swear it!” Bruce scowled as he clenched the paper in his fists.


	2. Gardens and graves.

Dick Grayson, also known as Nightwing, was on an off-world mission and was currently at a justice league moon base. He was currently on call with his guardian and adoptive father, Bruce Wayne.

”so yeah. I should be home in a few days at least. How’s Jay?” Dick asked with a smile. 

”oh, yeah no, Uhm Jason’s good. Yeah.” Bruce was caught off guard and didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t ready to tell dick about his baby brother’s death just yet. 

”oh, that’s good. Is he home? I’d like to talk to him!” Dick exclaimed. 

”oh. Uhm, he just went out with some friends before you called. He hasn’t gotten home yet, sorry.” Bruce lied. 

he had to tell Dick soon, but he didn’t feel like now, Over the phone, was the right time. Soon, but not now. 

”*sigh* look. I. Uh. I gotta go. I’ll try to get a hold of you later when Jason comes home if I have time. Bye, Dick.” Bruce rushed out. 

he wanted to talk to Dick, he really did, but he was getting to nervous about Jason and he’d’ve only be able to fool Dick for so long until he realized something was up. 

”oh... ok. Bye Bruce. Talk to you later.” Dick said, a hint of sadness in his voice. 

Bruce hung up the phone and set it down on the table. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

”your going to have to tell master Dick soon enough. It’ll be better that way. He’s been mad at you before, like when he left and formed the Titans. Lying to him about master Jason will only cause problems.” Alfred said as he walked into the room. 

Bruce only sighed. He knew his old friend was right. He just didn’t know how to tell Dick. 

”I-i know.. Alfred. I just don’t know how to tell him. He treated Jason like an actual brother and always made him feel welcome. He loved Jason like his own flesh and blood, Alfred. I-..... god I miss him so much...” Bruce started to shake. Alfred’s first response was to walk over and put his hand on Bruce’s shoulder. 

”I know it’s hard master Bruce. Chances are he’s still available. The funeral is in two days. You should tell him.” Alfred suggested. 

”I can’t.... I-i just... can’t.. I-i get that its wrong. But I can’t bring myself to talk about it. T0-to tell him over the ph-phone it.. it just doesn’t feel right. He deserves to find out in person...” Bruce said. 

Bruce was a complete mess after the funeral. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t shed a few tears. even if he’d never admit it. He was scared to death for Dicks reaction. He knew how temperamental his eldest could be. He regretted every choice he’d ever made when he got up the next morning. 

Dick came home four days after the funeral. It had been six days since he and Bruce had talked. He was excited to come home and see his baby brother. He walked through the front doors of the mansion, set his bags down, and began taking his coat off. 

”I’m home! Anyone here?” Dick called through the echoing halls. He was confused when he was met with silence instead of his energetic rambunctious younger brother running down the stairs to hug him. 

”Jay? Alfie? Bruce? You guys here?” Dick called, progressively growing more and more concerned. He dug out a batarang incase any intruders where messing with his family. He quietly stalked toward the kitchen, hiding by the wall his back pressed agains it, his head turned to the side, his arm raised so the weapon was right in front of his face, as a cop would do with a gun. He slid into the kitchen, positioning the batarang to throw when he heard movement in the room. 

”OH-lord, master Dick! Didn’t any one ever tell you it’s rude to sneak up on people..?” Alfred scolded. 

”oh! Sorry Alfie. And no offence, but that’s kind of what we do here.” Dick apologized, feeling bad for startling the old man. 

”where’s Jay? I didn’t hear him. Is he asleep?” Dick questioned. 

”oh.... uhm. Maybe you should check out back, particularly the garden, Master Jason might be there.” Alfred implied slowly. 

”no offence, Alfie, but Jay hates the garden and he never goes out back. I’ll check throughout the house first.” Dick stated. 

Dick searched everywhere. He checked Jason’s room, the theatre room and everywhere else throughout the house. When he still hadn’t found Jason he grew worried. 

”Jason if your playing games with me this isn’t funny, where are you!” Dick called, scared for his brother. 

”master Richard, I highly sug-“ 

”no. I’m not checking the gardens yet! I still haven’t checked the bat cave, he might be down there!” Dick muttered frantically. He ran down to The cave and called Jason’s name. When he was met with his own echo, his anxiety went through the roof and he went into full panic. 

”Jason where are you?!? This isn’t funny!” Dick waited around for a response and was still met with nothing but the repetition of his own voice. He bolted back upstairs with tears in his eyes and ran to Alfred. 

”are you sure he’s in the garden?! Alfred I’m panicking where is my brother?!?” Dick whimpered in a panic as Alfred nodded. 

”Pease.. go check the garden, master Richard.” Alfred whispered. 

Dick grabbed a dark blue niki jacket, ran out through the kitchen into the backyard, and ran down the paths to the gardens known to be home to the two gravestones that had been there long as Dick can remember, calling his brothers name endlessly about to go into a panic attack like state. He ran to the graves and his heart nearly stopped. He’d counted three headstones instead of one. He read them carefully. When he read the third one he lost all strength in his knees and collapsed. 

”no.... Jason......!” Dick stared helplessly at the gravestone that read “here lies Jason Todd, beloved brother and son. August 16-April 27, 2004-2019.” Dick burst into tears at the painful realness of the site in front of him and the heart shattering realization that his brother was gone. Alfred walked out to Dick and kneeled next to him and put his hand on Dicks Shoulder. 

”when’s the funeral....?” Dick Choked out. Alfred paled. 

”the..... the funeral was four days ago...” Alfred admitted. Dick froze and turned to look at the man who was so much like a grandfather to him. 

”what....?! Me and Bruce talked to each other six days ago!” Dick stated. 

”I’m well aware of the conversation you and master Bruce had. Master Jason passed away the evening prior.” Alfred hung his head. 

”I’ll be back in a bit, Alfred.” Dick growled as he stood up. 

”where are you going, master Dick?” Alfred questioned. 

”to have a chat with Bruce.” Dick said, anger and venom in his voice. 

Alfred knew there was no point in trying to stop the distraught 17-year-old, and simply followed him back to the house and accompanied him to the bat caves Zetatube.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t forget to tune in next Sunday for another chapter update at 12:00 pm, Est. Time!


	3. Grieving proven guilty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha oops I was writing chapter four and I realized that Dick would’ve been turning eighteen that winter and Wally would’ve been turning 20 the November because they’re two years apart. So he should’ve been nineteen instead of eighteen so I went and fixed that. Haha oops sorry

The Justice league was deep in an important conversation, throwing suggestions and comments this way and that, each one taken into carful consideration. The Dark Knight was about to speak up when they heard the unmistakable sound of the Zeta tubes firing up.

"recognized, Nightwing, B-0-1." The automated voice given to the functioning tech spoke as a silhouetted figure appeared.

Batman paled. There would only be one reason his eldest would be showing up like this, and Bruce regretted every choice he'd ever made on the matter as Nightwing stormed in, his expression one of pure loathing and distaste.

"Dick, what's the matter? The league is in the middle of an important meeting right now." Bruce said tensely, though fear, rather than anger, accompanied his voice.

"no, no _screw_ You and your important meetings you two-tailed lying bastard!" Dick snapped, as the tear stains on his cheeks became more and more evident.

"Dick-" Bruce started

"Start. Talking. What the hell happened to Jason?!" Dick growled, growing quickly impatient and more upset every second.

"Dick, I'm afraid I don't know what your talking about." Bruce lied.

"oh-ho the _fuck_ You don't Bruce!" Dick seethed.

“now spare yourself the indignity and tell me why the hell I came home to three headstones in the garden instead of two, one beating my baby brother's name!" Dicks midnight blue eyes flared with anger andc if only for a second, flashed as bright a blue as the early afternoon sky. Bruce took note of how his sons eyes did that whenever he was emotionally unstable.

Bruce hung his head defeatedly but differed from looking to the league for help with his enraged and distraught son considering he hadn't even told the league about Jason's death yet. Dick guessed that Bruce had kept it quiet judging by the entire leagues shocked expressions and open mouths. Dick looked away and sighed indifferently.

“I could've come home, Bruce. I could've been here for the funeral! But instead you _lied_ to me, and let me deal with the heartbreak of realizing I had not only not been around to keep my brother safe from death, but also miss his funeral." Dick choked out. he wasn't really ready to talk about loosing Jason yet, but he needed answers.

"I'm sorry Dick. I wanted to tell you, bet I felt doing it over the phone wasn't right. You deserved to find out in person. I'm sorry." Bruce whispered.

“_no_. No your _not_. Not yet. But you will be. I'm _done_ with the secrets and the lies. I can hardly tell what's real and what's fake with you anymore." Dick hissed, anger evident in his voice.

"I'm not mad that you didn't tell me. That's not what pisses me off. What _hurts_ is that we talked two days before the funeral and I asked how Jason was and you _lied_. That. That is what hurts Bruce. Secrets and lies aren't for free. They have a cost. Every time. And people pay the price." Dick said through gritted teeth as tears welled up in his eyes.

Bruce just sat in silence. He couldn't think of any reasonable retaliation for the distraught seventeen-year-old glaring at him from halfway across the room. Dick chuckled sadly and shook his head.

“And to think, I was beginning to believe that I could actually _trust_ you. And then you had to go and pull this shit show didn't you? You know what, I can't even stand to be in the same room as you right now let alone look at you. I'm leaving. But don't you dare think single god damned second that this conversation is over at all. We are going to have a _very_ long chat when you get home. Spend your time wisely." Dick growled brusquely.

And with that the young vigilante turned on his heel, far from satisfied, and raged out of the watchtower, going back to silently mourn his brother. He lost his family once, but would he be able to bear the pain of losing it twice? Jason was his world. Dick devoted his every living breathing moment to making Jason happy and welcome. Jason was the light that shined on Dicks dark life, and now that lights burned out and Dick wasn't sure if he could handle it. Jason had made Dicks life so much better and made the world seem so much kinder and now he was gone. Dick hated for people to see him so weak, but he couldn't help but latch on to his best friend when he heard the news and immediately ran over to comfort his best friend. Wally West was basically an honorary Wayne by default. His inseparable friendship with Dick had made him feel like family, and the two just clicked from the moment they met and they had been the best of friends ever since. Despite the red headed speedster being two years older than Dick, he was always Dicks shoulder to cry on, that someone to lean on when the world tilted. It was inevitable and almost normal that Wally showed up to comfort the grieving ebony. The two had an almost inseparable bond and Wally was downright miserable when Dick left for his off-world mission,

Despite the fact that he was nineteen, he still hated not being able to see his best friend. Wally and Dick had an almost brother-like relationship and it had always seemed nothing more than natural. After Dick was done chewing out Bruce for his lies, Wally was going to give the bat a piece of his mind and show him what it was like to have a pissed off red head on his hands. Nobody wanted to deal with an angry speedster, especially if it was Wally. Pissed off just wasn't Wally's style, and it startled everyone when he lost his temper. The only person Wally ever truly tried not to lose his temper on was Dick. Wally was ready to verbally tear Bruce apart when he saw how violently his best friend had been shaking in the gardens in the cold April rain. No one hurt Wally's little brother and got away with it. Wally never let them. Wally wanted nothing more then to go after Bruce and snap at him, but Dick needed him more, so Wally made the right choice and stayed with Dick, comforting his best friend with no more than the thought than "Bruce can wait."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! don’t forget to tune in next Sunday at 12:00 PM eastern time for chapter four!


	4. Winter wrath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note to go see @icechild’s “Robins in the snow” for more into on the boy’s sledding tradition! Her whole story is about that

Bruce took a Zetatube back to the Batcave and immediately changed from his bat costume to some more comfortable clothes and went up to the Kitchen. When he got there the last thing he expected was to see his eldest and now only son standing in the room leaning against the kitchen island while Alfred promptly stood next to Dick, giving Bruce an inevitable look of 'I told you so'. Bruce was taken aback by the sight. He thought Dick was joking and being irrational due to his emotional state. The last thing Bruce did when he last saw his son was take him seriously when he'd said they'd "have a very long conversation" when Bruce got home, but that wasn't nearly what confused him. What confused him was the young freckled and green eyed redhead on the side of Dick opposite Alfred glaring at Bruce with a gaze more threatening and scary then his infamous batglare. He should've known Wally West would be here. The red head and the ebony where damn near inseparable and they where always there to comfort one another. Bruce could feel the colour draining from his face under the redheads cold emerald gaze. Dick just glared at his adoptive father with cold frozen midnight blue eyes, said eyes being red rimmed, puffy and rubbed raw and sensitive from crying and mourning the loss of his baby brother.

"Alfred, Wally, Dick." Bruce acknowledged, giving a little nod as he spoke their names.

"I told you we'd continue our little _chat _as soon as you got home." Dick said, his tone angered and distasteful.

A few hours later both Dick and Bruce had done their fair share of yelling and crying, and the four of them ended up in the screening room watching the family favourite movie. It was called "the greatest showman” and they all loved it for one specific reason. except for Dick. Dick loved it because it reminded him of the place he grew up in and loved so much. The rest of the family loved it because it made them think of Dick with him being a circus kid and how happy the movie always made him. Bruce and Alfred sat next to each other in a pair of seats a few rows back from the screen, and Dick and Wally ended up falling asleep cuddled up to one another on the long couch like bench that served as a first row of seats in the mini home theatre. When they woke up they all went down for breakfast. Dick and Bruce had sorted things out the previous night but there was still an awkward tension. No one liked it. Finally Wally spoke up, breaking the all-round awkward silence for everyone.

"Ok. You guys need to talk. Look Bruce, I get you feel guilty and your grieving but you should've told Dick. Dick. Dude. I'm not asking you to forget about this and act like nothing ever happened, but there comes a point where you have to just forgive and move on. No one is really happy with Bruce's decision, and we all miss Jason. But let us miss him together as a group. Not a bunch of separate people with grudges and spite. Jason wouldn't want you two to fight. I know you both know that." Wally huffed, tired of the stiffness and the cold gazes from Dick to Bruce and the awkward silences and tensions.

Dick pushed his cereal bowl full of rice crispy's forward a little and sighed, clasping his hands together and resting them on the table.

"Wally's right. Jason wouldn't want this. We all miss him, so let's miss him together. He played a special part in all our lives." Dick agreed.

Bruce stood up and walked over to his eldest.

"Your right. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I'm sorry. I should've told you. I was wrong, and I'm sorry." Bruce said, speaking being proven easier said than done. Dick smiled as the light and star-like sparkle returned to his beautiful crystal dark blue eyes, if only a little. Bruce hugged Dick and the four of them walked out to the gravesite to say their final goodbyes.

The following winter was strange. Dick had turned eighteen so he was now legally an adult. Jason would've been sixteen if he hadn't passed earlier that April. The two had an adorable sledding tradition where they would grab homemade sleds and see who could do the best tricks going down a hill in the forest just outside the manor constantly trying to outdo each other to win the challenge of who had the best tricks. Dicks sled was blue and Jason's was red, with their initials carved into the bottom corners. The sleds had all these cute little marking all over them for decoration to make them go faster. That's what they said the marks did anyway. That winter the sleds never left their hooks in the garage and were never even so much as looked at by the lonely grieving bluebird. Winter was Dicks favourite time of year and he loved going outside and playing in the snow. He loved inviting Wally over to fool around with him in the cool white fluff outside when he was younger. And he loved doing his sledding tradition with his little brother and fooling around with him and freezing their faces off until they got dragged in by either Bruce or Alfred to warm up their bright pink faces, their cheeks and noses being bright cherry red and numb from the cold weather. But this winter was different. This winter Dick didn't have Jason to play with. Wally was always busy with college and other stuff. Dick didn't even want to look out the windows and out at the cold white world around him. That winter Dick didn't go sledding. That year Dick never got dragged in by Bruce or Alfred. That winter Dick never went outside unless he had to and never stayed out longer than he needed to. Bruce was shocked to say the least and his heart clenched when he walked into the manor library and found his son passed out on a table, his head resting on his arm laying over a book. Bruce carefully moved his son and looked at the book Dick was reading. Bruce's heart shattered when he saw that Dick hadn't been _reading_ the book at all. He was looking at it. It was a family photo album. The shards of Bruce's heart turned to mere vapour when he saw the page his son was looking at in the photographic book. It was pictures of all the winters Dick and Jason had together over the past couple of years. It showed the evolution of their sleds, them warming up and drinking hot chocolate, them passed out next to their sleds at the top of the hill from pure exhaustion, them making snow forts and Igloos and snow angles. Bruce looked at his sleeping son with an expression of pure sorrow and regret.

"Oh, Dick.... I'm so sorry..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! As per usual I hope you enjoyed this chapter and font forget to tune in next Sunday at 12:00 Pm Eastern time for the next chapter! Dickies spiraling down a very dark path and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited


	5. The new little birdie on J-bird street.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this is a bit later than usual! AO3 was being a butt and I couldn’t edit things normally so it took me a while to proofread and edit stuff for this chapter, either way hope you enjoy’

Dick felt so lonely on his birthday. Jason would always spend it with him, but Jason wasn't there this time. Dick felt so alone he almost didn't even bother coming out of his room on December first. That winter after his little brother passed away Dick was nothing but distant, sensitive, and miserable without Jason. He hated feeling that way, but he also knew his feelings couldn't be helped and grief tended to be something rather sticky with Dick. 

When Dick woke up on December first he slammed his fist lightly into the alarm clock on his bedside table. He hated everything about today and didn't want it to happen without Jason. When Dick came downstairs that morning he walked into the kitchen to grab a bowl of cereal when he heard a sentence he was dreading. 

"Happy birthday, Dick!" Alfred and Bruce greeted cheerfully. Dick smiled at them, got his cereal, and disappeared back into his room. He was like that all day. He came out for food, and then no one saw him until it was time for the next meal. He'd even put a 'do not disturb' sign on his bedroom door just so he could be left alone. Later that night around seven Dick decided to sneak down to the manors library. He got there and he pulled out an old photo album, and carefully started flipping through the gentle pages. Dick would be lying if he said he hadn't shed a few tears looking at the memories of his family. Eventually Dick couldn't take it anymore and he just let the tears fall and stopped trying to hold them back. 

He's gotten to the sledding page in the book, when he'd realized how tired he was, and rested his head on the paper in the book on the table. He'd heard someone come in to the library, but he was to tired to pay much attention and eventually passed out and was out like a light. Bruce walked over carefully to the table his son was sitting at in the middle of the manor library and carefully took the book out from underneath his sons arms, drying the strangely damp paper. He wondered how much sleep Dick had been getting, since his son hadn’t been sleeping well at all since he lost his brother. Bruce looked at the page and his heart clenched. It was a collage page of all Dick and Jason's shared winters. 

"I'm so sorry, Dick...." Bruce whispered quietly. A few months had passed, it was now March and it was starting to get warmer outside. Dick liked that. He couldn't stand the feeling of the cold with all the memories of him and his little brother that came with it. 

Dick was out for a walk when a young, small black-haired and blue-eyed boy ran up to him and poked him from behind to get Dicks attention. 

"Hello? Can I help you?" Dick said as he turned around to face the tiny boy. 

"Hi! My names Tim. Tim Drake. You wouldn't happen to be Dick Grayson, would you?" The little boy now known as Tim asked, curiosity sparkling in his early afternoon sky blue eyes. 

”Why, yes I am Dick Grayson. Can I help you with something, Tim?" Dick asked, slightly confused. 

"Follow me. I need to talk to you, but we might want to do it somewhere a bit more Private." Tim lightly tugged at Dicks arm. 

"Look, kid-" Dick started before he was cut off by the young boy dragging him down the sidewalk toward an alleyway. 

"I know who the Batman is." Tim stated quietly as not to be overheard, his tone dead serious to show he wasn't playing around. Now Dick was intrigued. 

"Here. Let me take you to my favourite rooftop then." Dick suggested as a smile plastered Across Tims face. Tim was practically jumping with excitement. When they got to the rooftop they situated themselves nicely on the edge. 

"This is a beautiful view." Tim smiled as he gazed over Gotham city from above. 

"You can view almost all of Gotham from here. I bet the sunsets from up here are beautiful." 

"Yeah, they are. That's why it's my favourite rooftop. I used to come here all the time with Ja-..a good friend of mine." Dick confirmed as Tim looked on with nothing but excitement is his eyes. Tim could see the faltering smile on the older boys face and was going to ask if he was alright, but decided against it. He didn't want to overstep his boundaries in subjects other than what Dick had brought him here for. 

"So. You... you know Batman's secret identity?" Dick questioned, bringing on the subject they where there to talk about. 

"I know yours too, Nightwing. Batman is Bruce Wayne." Tim said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Dicks mouth dropped and he stared in astonishment. This young boy who couldn't possibly be any older than thirteen at the eldest, figured out both Batman and Nightwing's secret identity. And all by himself at that. 

"And.... I'm sorry for your loss. O-of Jason. He-he was Robin... right?" Tim asked quietly. Dick smiled, swallowed thickly and took a deep breath. 

"Yeah. Jason was my little brother. When I was nine years old I made my first appearance as Robin. Then when I was thirteen Bruce and I had an argument and I ran off to jump city and formed the teen titans. During my time in jump city, Bruce had found himself a new Robin, which was Jason. Then when I was sixteen, my best friend, Wally, got through to me and convinced me to move back to Gotham and simply pay visits to the Titans in Jump city. Then I came home to a new Robin in my city. So I became Nightwing, and here we are now." Dick explained, carting his fingers through his jet-black hair. 

"Wow. What exactly happened to Jason...?" Tim asked. Dicks smile faded completely. 

”You've heard of the joker... right? Well, he kidnapped Jason, and tortured him. Beat him half to death with a crowbar. Jason died in the explosion of the warehouse the Joker was keeping him in." Dick said, clenching his fists slightly. 

"Wow. You really don't mince anything, do you..?" Tim said, slightly taken aback. 

”The worlds not as kind a place as we're all taught at first. Better to realize it sooner than later. Sugar coating and acting like everything's gonna be fine can get and has gotten people killed. I don't like lies." Dick said as he shifted his legs to sit crosslegged on the edge of the building. 

"I've been training, you know. Observing. Batman's not the same without Robin. Batman needs a robin, and I've been training for it." Tim said, surprising the older boy next to him. 

"Are you sure? You really want to do this?" Dick said. He didn't want Tim to do anything he wasn't ready for. 

”Yes! I'm sure! Batman needs a robin. He's not the same without Robin, and Batman needs him!" Tim said determinedly. Dick sighed and stood up walking toward the alleyway side of the building. 

"Then follow me." Dick jumped and slid down the fire escape and ladders into the ally, Tim following close behind. 

In less than half an hour, Dick and Tim where in the backyard of the mansion. Dick held up two hands to Tim. 

"Punch me as hard as you can. I want to make sure your ready before we bring this to Bruce." Dick instructed. Dick was on the ground in five seconds flat, having taken a hard punch to the face, and his feet swept out from underneath him. Dick stood back up with a conflicted expression. 

"Where you going for the hand?" Dick asked, highly confused. Tim just chuckled and the boys went back to Tims evaluation. 

The boys spent hours outside training and practicing, Dick pointing out the flaws in what Tim already knew and helping him perfect his training. Eventually Alfred came out and said that he'd prepared supper and Tim was more than welcome to stay and eat. The two boys ran in for the food. They were starving after how long they'd been training for. They all sat down and Bruce did a double take at the amount of people at the table. 

"Well who's this nice young man?" Bruce asked politely as he sat down to eat. 

"Oh! Bruce, this is Tim. Tim, this is Bruce Wayne." Dick introduced happily. The three chatted and talked, all getting to know each other better. Eventually Bruce found out that Tim knew who Batman and Nightwing were, leading to the inevitable conversation. 

"Tim wants to be the new Robin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Feel free to comment and let me know what you think of it! Don’t forget to tune in next Sunday at 12:00 PM Eastern time for chapter six!


	6. Taking flight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SO TERRIBLY SORRY THIS IS TWO HOURS LATE! GOD I CAND APOLOGIZE ENOUGH something came up and I couldn’t finish the chapter in time because I procrastinate writing chapters throughout the week and either start writing on Friday and finish on Saturday or write it Saturday night haha. Please forgive any mistakes this wasn’t proof read because I just want to get it posted for you guys

Dick hadn't though the sentence would strike the cord that it did. Did he mess up? He couldn't tell. Dick was unable to read the expression on Bruce's face.  
He didn't know what to do.

"Bruce? Trust me. I practiced with him before Dinner. You could at least start training him. He's ready!" 

"Dick we need to talk. Follow me." Bruce stood up and walked out into the hall. Dick followed obligingly. He was gonna convince Bruce to train Tim if it killed him. Tim deserved it for all the trouble he'd gone though to get where he was.. This was the least Dick could do to repay the favour. 

"Dick what are you thinking?!" Bruce said, though worry instead of anger accompanied his tone. 

"Bruce come on! Batman needs Robin. He may not be Jason but he's worthy of the role I created. I've dubbed him so. Do you think I would let him do this if I was scared he'd ruin robins reputation? You know what that name means to me and I don't let anyone I feel is unworthy bear that title. You know that." Dick backed his statement at the dinner table. 

"I can't train him only for him to end up like Jason...." Bruce mumbled. 

"You don't know if he will! I grew up on the trapeze and you know how I learned to use it? By taking a risk! And that's what I'm asking you to do now. Take a chance! Give him what you gave me and Jason!" Dick assured. 

"Fine." Bruce caved with a sigh. Dick smiled. 

"Come on! He'll be so excited!" Dick dragged Bruce back to the table. 

"Good news Timmy!" A wide smile spread across Dicks face. 

"Your training starts tomorrow at seven. Don't be late." Bruce walked over and patted Tim lightly on the shoulder. 

"7 Am or Pm?" Tim questioned. 

"Pm." Dick answered knowingly. 

Ok. I'll be there. Thank you so much!" Tim said, bouncing with excitement. 

"Bring all the training gear you have. You'll need it. You'll be training long and hard." Bruce explained. Tim nodded with a smile to show he understood. Tim quickly pulled out his phone and checked the time. 

"Oh! Crap I gotta be getting home. See you guys tomorrow! Have a good night." Tim stood up. Dick grabbed his keys off the kitchen counter. 

"Here. I'll give you a ride. Let's go." Dick smiled, nodding his head in the direction of the front door. 

"Oh. Thanks, Dick!" Tim jogged over to catch up with Dick as he walked toward the front door. 

No problem Timmy." Dick smiled at the young energetic boy. Tim reminded Dick somewhat of himself at that age. Young. Curious. Energetic and always moving. Wanting to help wherever and whoever he can. 

A few minuets later Dick pulled up in front of Tims house. 

"Bye Tim. See you tomorrow, have a good night!" Dick waved as Tim walked up to the front door of his house. 

"Bye Dick. Thanks for everything, by the way! See you tomorrow night!" Tim smiled and waved back. With that, Tim walked through the door, took off his coat and hat, and went up to his room to go to bed. 

Dick got home and saw a missed call from Wally. He grabbed his phone and instantly called his favourite speedy redhead back. Wally picked up in a flash. 

"Hey, man! What's up? We haven't talked in a while." Wallys voice came through the speaker of the phone. 

"Hey dude. Sorry I missed your call. Your not gonna believe the night I had!" Dick exclaimed excitedly. "Woah, sounds like someone had an eventful evening! Tell me everything!" Wally said, matching Dicks excitement. For the next hour the two stayed up laughing and talking, like old friends. They missed the days when they were younger and could do this all the time. 

Things in the league of assassins, however, weren’t going so well. Ra’s Al Guhl had certain plans for a certain deceased red bird. He looked up at two men standing near a lever, and nodded. The two men upon command started lowering the body of Jason Todd into the green glowing and healing waters of the Lazarus pit. The corpse sunk into the water and everything was quiet. 

Ra’s stood in front of the pit, staring with hope that the body would soon emerge. After a few minuets of silence, a body shot out of water like a bullet and screams filled the room. Ra’s sighed in relief. However, what he was not expecting was for the body to collapse in the green waters and kneel, panting and shaking. Ra’s ran up to Jason and put his hand on the bats shoulder. 

”Are you alright? Do you know who you are? What is your name?” Ra’s asked. 

”M-m-my name I-is Jason. J-Jason t-t-Todd. Where a-am I...? Where’s Bruce....?” Jason asked. It became clear to Ra’s that Jason felt alone and scared at this moment. 

”how am I here? How am I alive? I’m supposed to be dead... Bruce he.... h-h-he couldn’t save me... h-he-he let me d-die! Bruce.... l-let me......” Jason ran his fingers through his hair and gripped it hard. Ra’s put an arm around Jason and lightly rubbed his shoulder as Jason curled into himself and started sobbing. 

”Wh-where’s Dick....? I-i-want my B-brother..... please..... i ne-need my big brother..... Dick.....” Jason muttered and whimpered in between sobs. 

”Shhh. It’s ok. You’re ok. Your safe here, Jason. Come on. Let’s get you in to some proper clothing and cleaned up.” Ra’s slowly helped Jason stand up. 

”W-will I be able to go home? Wh-what’s happening?” Jason asked as he blinked to try and clear the salty liquid from his bright green eyes. “All shall be explained soon enough. For now, you need a good nights rest and time to calm down and relax. Let’s get you washed up.” Ra’s said softly. Ra’s didn’t usually show is compassionate side, and the only one who wasn’t shocked by his actions was his daughter, Talia. Besides a handful of older assassins that where there when she was born, Talia was the only one who knew how kind and compassionate her father could be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry for posting late, hope you enjoyed the chapter, I’ll try to post on time next Sunday. Don’t forget to tune in next weekend at 12:00 EST. for chapter seven!


	7. Adjusting reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So For all you lovely readers out there reading this and my other stories, I finally have an Instagram you can keep up with me on! You can follow me @/shooting.broken.arrows on Instagram so you know if a chapter will be coming out late, if I won’t be able to post a chapter one week, etc! Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Ra's led Jason to a room on a top level of a temple house on the island that the league of assassins was stationed on.

"Here. You will live and sleep here. This is your new bedroom." Ra's explained, gesturing to the large room. 

"But... what about my room in the manor back home in Gotham? If I stay here how will I tell Dick I'm alive? How will I tell Bruce?" Jason questioned, cocking a thin black brow. 

"I'm sixteen and financially dependent. I need to live with an adult. Dick would be an adult by now I think. And Bruce is my legal guardian. I need to go home." Jason continues, furrowing his brow in confusion and wheeling around on Ra's. 

"Jason listen to me. They believe you to still be dead. Your headstone still lay in their garden. If you go back you won't still be Robin, Bruce got someone else to play that part after you died. I'm sorry... but you have to stay here. We can train, care and provide for you here. In Gotham you are legally dead. You have been for the past year." Ra's explained as shock and horror painted Jason's face. 

"No... no, Bruce... he... he-he wouldn't...! I-i know he wouldn't! Bruce.... Bruce would never! He wouldn't... he wouldn't do that to me...! I know he... he wouldn't... Bruce..." Jason's breath hitched and he suddenly felt a tightness in his chest and felt like he couldn't breathe. Bruce would never replace him. Not even after death. Would he? No. He wouldn't. "Jason. Jason look at me. Breathe. Look. The new robins name is Tim Drake. He recently started training as Robin with Bruce." Ra's held up a photograph. He would. Bruce would do that. No. The photo had to be fake. Bruce wouldn't replace Jason like that. He wouldn't. Right? Bruce wasn't that cold and heartless. He wasn't. He couldn't be. No matter what the stories that Jason was told by the Justice league said, Bruce wasn't like that and he wouldn't do this to Jason. Not even on a death count. 

"No.... n-No you're lying! You're lying you have to be lying! Bruce wouldn't just... replace me like that! He wouldn't ....." the look in Ra's's eyes told Jason he was being honest with the bat. Bruce would do exactly that. The truth hit Jason like a bus and Jason dropped to his knees, staring at the floor. He startled laughing lightly. 

"Hehehe. Reality's a bitch, huh. God. I can't.... why would he.... what did I do wrong..... I-..." Jason couldn't help the tear that slid down his cheek, followed by another in its tracks. Another tear followed and Jason couldn't stop the seemingly endless tears that fled from his eyes and down his face. Why would Bruce do this? Jason didn't understand. God, there was so much he didn't understand. Jason felt scared, hurt, betrayed, and alone. He wanted to understand. He wanted to know what he did to make both Dick and Bruce turn on him like this. He wanted to apologize and say he was sorry. But he didn't know how. He was legally dead for gods sake. He'd never get a straight answer from them much less be able to stay at the manor. Was what made Bruce replace him the reason Bruce didn't save Jason? Bruce had always told Jason that can't and won't are two different things. Maybe it wasn't that Bruce couldn't save Jason, but more that he wouldn't save him. But why was what Jason didn't understand. He thought they cared. He thought that Bruce and Dick accepted him into their family. But now they've gone and replaced him just like that. Like he meant nothing to them. Jason sat in a kneeling position on the floor and wrapped his arms around his waist, leaning his forehead down on his knees. He didn't care that the head of the league of assassins was standing there watching him cry. At least it seemed like he might care in the slightest. Ra's knelt down and put a comforting hand on Jason's shoulder. 

"Come now. You can stay here, where we will train, care and provide for you. There are some fresh clothes for you on the bed. I'll leave and give you some alone time, Jason. It seems you will need it. Come and find me if you require anything." Ra's said. Ra's rubbed his thumb lightly on Jason's shoulder for a few seconds before standing up, turning on his heel and leaving the room, closing the door behind him. Jason sat on the floor curled up in a heap for a good half hour after Ra's left. He didn't know what else to do with himself, so he did the only logical thing and stayed there to let out the emotions he couldn't even try to describe that he was feeling. Eventually Jason got up, took a nice hot shower, put on some clean clothing and went down for dinner. It felt weird eating dinner with the deadliest assassin family he'd ever known, but pushed that feeling aside and stayed thankful that he was even getting a meal. 

"I understand that it may feel... strange to be here. But, I do trust that will time, patience and kindness from us, you will adjust to living here." Ra's spoke, breaking the somewhat awkward silence. 

I hope so. It's not like i have anywhere else to go, let alone even a family to run home to anymore." Jason sighed as he picked at his food. 

Perhaps, Over time, we will become like family to you, Jason. We welcome you here with open arms as one of us." Talia said, giving Jason a reassuring smile. 

"Thanks. I'll do my best to fit in around here." Jason returned Talia's gesture. 

the next month flew by like nothing and within that time Jason had adjusted well and grew quickly advanced in his training. He, needless to say, loved it there. With the league he felt secure, safe, and at home. A Sense of family and belonging filled his body with the league. Dick and Bruce could shove him away and replace him all they wanted. Jason didn't care. He didn't need them. He didn't belong with them. He belonged here, with the league. Here he felt safe and at home. With Bruce and Dick he got Killed. They didn't care about Jason and Jason didn't care about them. He was here and safe. And that was enough for Jason. Here he was happy and cared For. In Gotham he was replaced the second he died. He didn't belong in Gotham. He belonged with the league. Home is where family is. The league was Jason's family. Not Bruce, Dick and Alfred. The league was here and that made here home. And Jason was with the league and he was happy. Jason was finally home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Don’t forget to follow to my Instagram to keep up with me and my stories and tune in next Sunday at 12:00 Canadian time! See ya soon!


	8. Birthdays be damned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! Don’t forget to follow my Instagram, @/shooting.broken.arrows! That way you can keep up with me and all my stories!

Jason seemed to be very closed off after he died and came back to life. the league noticed this almost immediatly. he hardly talked to anyone. this was expected of the young bat though. who wouldnt be closed off, self defensive, and distant after going through what Jason had? this was expected and everyone, though it did seem unnatural, played their part in making Jason feel welcome and at home. sure Jason loved it at the manor and he missed his big brother and their little sledding tradition, but after his death he slowly realized that the manor in Gotham city wasnt his home. his home was with the league and he was perfectly ok with that. with the league he felt at home. or did he?

Jasons birthday was comming up. it was august fifteenth and jason was dreading hafting to wake up te next morning. 

"do i have to celebrate my birthday tomorrow...?' Jason asked dreadfully. 

"i really dont want to..." Jason continued. 

"Jay, its your birthday. why wouldnt you want to celebrate?" Talia asked. 

"I just... i just dont.' Jason grumbled. 

"you miss them. don't you? Richard and Bruce. its your first birthday you havent had with them since you met Bruce in the ally. i get it. but my daughter and i do still encourage you to at least celebrate, if only a little." Ra's encouraged. 

Jason saw no point in fighting and gave in, huffing a dissapointed "fine." 

everyone woke up bright and early the next morning to get things prepared for the bats birthday. Jason woke up around 8:30-9:00 on his birthday. he felt strange waking up in somewhere other than the manor, but he couldnt pin point exactly why. perhaps it was just that he wished he could've been able to spend his seventeenth birthday with his big brother and father figure. maybe it was the fact that even after six months of having lived with the Al ghuls he still felt alone and out of place, like he didnt belong here. knowing you belong somewhere isnt the same as feeling it. to truly be at home you have to both know it and feel it. it takes both, not just one. and right now, Jason only knew it. he never really felt at home with the league of assassins, but he did with Dick and Bruce. as much as he hated to admit it, the only gift Jason wanted today was to be able to go home, to Gotham. eventually Jason dragged himself out of bed and pulled his corpse to the the kitchen. 

"mornin', guys..." Jason Greeted groggily. 

"good morning, Jason. Happy birthday." Talia greeted. there. that sentance. that damned sentance. the one Jason didn't want to hear at all today. there it was. 'happy birthday.' birthdays be damned when all Jason wanted was to go home. not be stuck here. Jason faked a tired half smile and sat down. 

"good morning, Jason. a pleasant date of birth to you. I trust you slept well last night?" Ra's quirked a brow as Jason snickered. 

"yeah, yeah i slept well last night." Jason lied. truthfully, he stayed up almost all night because his anxiety got the best of him and he eventually spiraled into a full on panick attack as memory after memory of that godforesaken warehouse flashed like a slideshow in his head. he had a, needless to say, very rough night. he had always struggled to fall asleep growing up, but it had gotten progressivly worse since he died. if Jason was being completely honest with himself, everything had seemed to be getting progressively worse since he'd died. his 'father', if Jason could still call him that, failed to save him, he was stuck in a place he couldnt call home, he had been replaced by his own family, and he had to wake up on the day he loathed. Jason was sure of two things. that he was an insomniac and that he wanted to go home. sure it was nice here, and the people were kind and just too him, but some things grow old fast. at home there was always something for him to do. some kind of mischief him and his brother could get into. his brother. he missed his brother so much. he just wanted to go home. the only thing he wanted for his birthday was the one thing he couldnt have. he wanted to be back in Gotham. he wanted to be with his brother. he wanted to go home. as much as it was a struggle to realize, Gotham had something the league never would to give to Jason. a sense of home. and that was what Jason longed for. a family. a home. he wanted his back, but he couldnt have it and it was slowly and painfully killed him inside. 

"good. you have a big day ahead of you, given i assume there is a lot you would like to do today.' Ra's stated. 

"yeah. yeah i've got just so much planed today. im gonna spend time with my family, go out with my friends, y'know. all that Jazz." Jason said sarcastically, emphazizing his sarcasm with jazz-hands. Ra's sighed while Talia chuckled at the seventeen-year-old's behavior. "he has a point, Father. you have to admit that." Talia said. 

"fair enough. what do you plan on doing, then, Jason?" Ra's asked. Jason was going to do it. it was now or never. he had to come clean. he was going to. what kind of person would he be if he didnt? 

"I want to go home. i want my family back." Jason said defiantly. Talie choked on her drink and Ra's paled ever so slightly. 

"Jason... you are home. we are your family." Ra's said. 

"No. im sorry, but i dont belong here. this isnt my family. i apreciate everything youve done for me over the years, but Bruce and Dick. they're my family. Gotham is my home. i belong there. all i want is to be back where i belong. and its not here. I'm sorry." Jason confessed. 

"i was expecting this. ill help you pack your things after supper and you can go back to Gotham tonight. you dont deserve to be stuck here when you want to be somewhere else, but wait till supper, just to give yourself a bit of extra time to think about your descision. i want you to be sure this is what you want." Ra's said. Jason's face lit up like a kid on christmas morning. he was going home. 

"it is, im sure. but. yeah. i'll take some time to give it a bit of extra thought." Jason could barely contain his excitement. he couldnt wait to go home. so excited he didnt even think about teh new birdie on Jay-bird street that took his place. 

the rest of the evening went by faster than Jason's mind would let him comprehend. within an hour he had his things packed and was bouncing at the front door with excitement and anticipation. 

"bye. thank you. for everything. i cant thank you two enough for everything and words cant express how much it means to me. thank you so much." Jason said, barely containing the wide grin his mouth stretched into. 

"you're more than welcome. remember, you're always welcome here. if things dont go as planned, you always have a home here, Jason.' Ra's said. 

"thank you. good to know I'll still have a place to go if things go south in Gotham. bye!" Jason smiled and waved as he walked out the front door. He was going home. needless to say, jason was exstatic. he couldnt wait to go home. 

within a few hours Jason was back in his home city, taking in the city scent and breathing in the cool Gotham air. he was finally home. this was where he belonged. Jason finally got the one thing he wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Don’t forget to follow the IG, @/shooting.broken.arrows, to keep up with me and my stories and tune in at twelve PM EST. For chapter nine next Sunday!


	9. Old friends and old places.

Jason stepped off the train at the subway and took a wiff of the cool Gotham air.

"home sweet home." Jason whispered to himself as he set off toward the stairs to head above ground. memories, both the good and the bad, flooded back one by one. Jason was glad to be home. for a few hours he just wandered around town, having a good time remembering the memories he'd made in certain places, reminincing on the good times. he really didn’t notice how much he did missed Gotham until he’d come back. 

Jason went to an old abandoned warehouse he was rather fond of. He'd disappear to it whenever he'd had enough of Bruce nagging at him. Every now and then, Dick would have to come and find Jason to drag him home. Jason unpacked his things and made himself at home, albeit it didn't take him that long, as he didn't have to much with him. 

after Jason had finished unpacking, he decided to tune into the police station on an old radio he'd stolen years back. Jason sat down in a makeshift chair, with the radio in front of him, sipping peacefully on a glass of water. 

"dispatch to station, requesting backup. The Joker broke out of Arkham Asylum, he has hostages. Where the hell is Batman-" a young girl yelled through her request. Jason choked on his drink and dropped the glass, letting it shatter on the floor. "What the hell...." Jason muttered. What did he just hear? The Joker was still alive? Why? Jason ended up having so many thoughts run through his head. Eventually he decided to get up and go for a walk around the city. He didn't care if it was three in the morning. Maybe his ears were playing tricks on him. He needed some fresh air. Some time to think. 

around four-thirty he stopped in the ally he'd met Bruce in. He had been trying to steal the tires off the Batmobile and got caught when the dark knight had come back to his ride to head home. Jason leant against the wall and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter, stuffing the nicotine infested cylinder between his lips and lighting it. Jason exhaled white smoke into the atmosphere with a sigh. "That bastard is still alive..." Jason whispered. Jason shook his head softly and turned to look at where the batmobile had been parked the night he and Bruce met. Jason scoffed. "You really let me down this time, Bruce. And to think, I was hoping what I heard was fake. I was naive enough to trick myself into believing you still cared." He continued, blowing the white streak of hair out of his face and brushing it back with the rest of his black hair. Jason finished his cigarette and left the ally. He went to a park where he would often meet with Dick when his big brother was still robin. Dick would come in uniform, spend a couple hours teaching Jason some basic self defense moves, and just sit and chat with Jason. Jason still had the ratty old red hoodie he would always wear back then. Months of that went on before Dick had asked for Jason's help on a mission one night, a building exploded and dick had gotten seriously hurt and Jason finally found out that robin, who had been like another brother to him, had been his other brother, Dick Grayson, in disguise all along. Jason sat down on a bench near the patch of trees a little ways away from the park and laughed as he remembered the time he lied to Dick saying he'd be away for a week or so as he was going to find his birth mother. Truthfully, Jason had been sneaking off to underground fight clubs and putting in some extra training. Dick had been so mad at him when he'd finally found out the truth. Jason sat there, often shifting between wanting to laugh at a memory, and wanting to cry. Around six in the morning, Jason whipped out his phone, put in his headphones, playing music, and went to a nearby gym that he knew had a punching bag. He needed to blow off some steam. Around eight thirty Jason stopped to get some breakfast, went home, and relaxed. That became Jason's early morning routine; head to the gym around six, get breakfast, head home and chill. Jason was happy to be home, but he felt lonely. He wanted someone to know the real him, not the ghost that hangs at the gym and Fox's doughnuts every morning him. So, after a week of contemplation, Jason went to Star city. 

Jason went to a local restaurant-bar he knew the person he was here for was quite fond of. He walked in, sat down at a booth near the back, pulled out his phone so he didn't look to suspicious, being a kid from Gotham in Star city, and waited for a certain redhead to walk in. Eventually a cute brunette walked up to Jason, wanting to start a conversation. 

"Hey, Dude. what's with the dark closet?" The brunette asked, referring to Jason's outfit. That's when Jason remembered that people didn't usually wear a lot of black in star city and Jason happened to be wearing black combat boots, black cargo pants, a black collared shirt, black leather fingerless gloves, and a dark brown leather jacket. 

Oh. Hehe, I'm from Gotham, sweetheart." Jason responded with a chuckle, smirking. 

"ah, that makes sense. You didn't look like you were from here. Mind if I sit while I wait for my coffee?" The brunette laughed. 

"no, not at all, go ahead, I'm just waiting for a friend so. Names Jason, by the way." Jason stuck out his hand to shake the girls. 

"oh, haha. Names Rachel. Nice to meet you Jason. Mind if I call you Jay?" The brunette, now known as Rachel, asked. 

" nah, go ahead. My-most people... call me that anyway." Jason said. Jason was going to say his brother called him that all the time, but now he wasn't really sure wether Dick was his brother anymore, or if he should call Dick that now. The two sat and chatted for about an hour until Rachel finished her coffee, and had to go, saying she'd love to stay and chat, but her stories wouldn't write themselves, and her adoptive siblings that were pretty much more like daughters to her, Cat and Ace, were home alone and not even god knows what they could be getting into at this point and Jason laughed a little as the young college student rushed out the door to head home as he waved goodbye. Jason sat on his phone for about another fifteen minutes before the man he was waiting for walked in. Jason took a deep breathe and waited till the redhead was by himself and then made his move. He stood up, walked over to the man, gave him a soft tap on the shoulder to get his attention and put on a soft but nervous smile. 

"hey, Roy." Jason greeted, hoping that his old friend would recognize him. Roy choked on his drink and his jaw dropped. 

"Jason?! Is... is that you?" Roy asked in a shocked tone. Jason nodded. 

"you look.... different..." Roy mused, standing up a little straighter. 

"heheh yeah. Whole new look huh? I think death looks good on me. I'll explain everything later, to risky to do it here. But we can chill here for a while and just, y'know. Catch up?" Jason suggested. 

"yeah, sure. Sounds good to me." Roy smiled. They were about to walk back to Jason's booth when the realization actually hit Roy. 

"wait. Death...The fuck? Jay? Wait your really actually here? Ohmygod." Roy mumbled. Jason laughed and gave Roy a smile he'd recognize no matter what. The signature J.T smile. Roy swore he almost started crying. He missed his friend so much. Roy donned an excited and confused expression and carted his fingers through his fiery red hair and that's when Jason gave him their all but traditional bro-hug. 

"it's me, Roy. I'm here. For real. Come on, my booth is just over there." Jason led the two of them to were he'd been seated earlier. The two spent a few hours sitting there, just chatting. It was good for Jason. It made him happier than he’d been in a while. Someone knew the real him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! As always, I hope you liked this chapter! Don’t forget to follow my Instagram, @/shooting.broken.arrows to keep up with me and the rest of my stories! Don’t forget to tune in next Sunday at twelve PM EST. Time for chapter ten! See ya next time!


	10. Enjoying a dreaded day

it'd been a few months since Jason's trip to Star City and it was now August, and he and Roy hung out at least three to four times a week now. if the two weren't physically together, they were texting each other and vice versa. they truly enjoyed each others company and Jason was getting used to having a friend again. although it was something he'd never admit, Jason needed people. people he could trust and depend on when things got rough. Roy was that type of person. up until his death on April 27 the previous year, he had his big brother, and that was it. he'd never really needed anybody else because Dick was his rock. the thing that made him keep going. the person he could trust. his someone to lean on. the person he trusted more than anyone. Dick was the only one Jason ever truly opened up to. Jason had always been a very closed off kid. it was something he couldn't help, it was just the way he was. a side effect of how he grew up. growing up Jason had always lived by one sentence. you can't trust everybody, so why trust anybody. he swore by it. it kept him alive on the streets and it was the thing he held onto from his past life, he only let it go for Roy. he was slowly breaking down and becoming a mere shell of the person he once was without someone to depend on.

Jason was fearing one thing about this month. his birthday. August 16 was coming up pretty closely and he wasn't ready for it. he didn't want it to come. 

Dick had felt the same way about the 16 as Jason did. Dick didn't want to wake up that day, knowing how important it was, but feeling the ghost of the fact that this special day belonged to someone who was no longer with him. it wasn't a friendly ghost either. 

Dick woke up on the dreaded day and slammed his fist aggressively into his alarm clock. 

"shut up." Dick growled disdainfully at the noisy, annoying clock. he turned and looked over at his dresser and stared at an old photo of him and his brother. Dick was trying to get his little brother into a suit for a gala. this picture was taken a week before dick had left for his off-world mission. the mission he'd wished he'd never gone on. he did all he could to try to forget it, but he couldn't get rid of the memory of the mission for the life of him. he found it funny. it made him notice how all the bad memories stick with you for the rest of your life, but the good memories are forgotten as easily as seeing a penny on the street on your casual monday morning. Dick got up out of bed, running his fingers through his hair, and got dressed. he went downstairs and instantly went out to the gardens. Dick always referred to it as "the cursed family garden" nowadays. Dick walked down the long lonely path and sat down in front of the gravestone bearing the only name amongst the three people buried here he'd ever actually met. 

"here lies Jason Peter Todd, august sixteenth, 2004 - april twenty seventh, 2019. beloved son and brother." Dick read aloud softly. 

"it should say a true hero too. I'm sorry I wasn't here for you when you needed me, Jason. I miss you. alot. happy birthday. wish you were here...." Dick said quietly, as he set Jason's favourite flower in front of the headstone. not noticing a shadowed figure hiding in the trees off to his right. Dick pulled his knees to his chest, and rested his forehead on them. Dick was glad he was alone. or at least he thought he was. he needed to clear his head. whenever Dick needed that he used to go to the roof, but now he came here. he always felt safer around Jason. knowing that Jason had his back and he had Jasons. the two were so close and looked so similar and acted so indifferently that people hardly believed them when they admitted they weren't actually blood-related. people always said Bruce was lucky to have his two boys so close. Bruce always responded with the fact that it helped that they weren't blood-brothers. people always got confused, stating that adoptive siblings usually don't seem that close because they're adopted, but Bruce always said that they were just a rare breed. and truthfully, he was right. Bruce had never met another boy that were like either of his boys. they were already a special pair, but they were Bruce's pair and that made them even more special in Bruce's eyes. they were his boys and his boys only. nothing would ever change that. 

Jason knelt down and watched carefully through a bush as his brother wished him a happy birthday and set down a Jade vine in front of his grave. he loved that flower because its blue colour reminded him of his older brother, it was one of the world's rarest flowers and he was a rare type of kid, and the flower vine was pollinated by bats. it made him smile that Dick had gone to the trouble to get a jade vine all the way from the philippines. after a few more minutes Dick stood up, turned on his heel to walk back toward the house, but didn't move. he looked over his shoulder, stealing one last look at the gravestone, and walked back to the manor. after Dick was out of sight, Jason stood up, and headed back to his safehouse. 

Jason walked through the door of the safehouse that had really become more of a one floor, one room apartment, and was almost a little surprised to see Roy sitting there on the couch. 

"Hey, Jay. happy birthday!" Roy smiled. 

"heh. thanks, Roy." Jason said with a tight smile. 

"I honestly don't know why I didn't think you'd be here today." 

"dude. you couldn't pay me to stay in star city on your birthday." Roy stated. 

"fair point." Jason laughed. 

the two boys spent the next few hours just chatting gleefully. around six-thirty Roy decided he was going to take Jason out for a birthday supper. 

"come on. where do you want to go? im taking you out." Roy explained. 

"like, out for dinner? or as in your gonna murder me?" Jason questioned. 

"dinner. death looks good on you but not that good, Jason." Roy laughed. 

"ok." Jason said, pretending to be dissapointed. 

"so where do you want to go?" Roy asked. 

" uhm. hmmm. I dunno. maybe Bat-burger? I know what went down, and I know I shouldn't, but I love me some jokerized fries." Jason decided. 

"bat-burger it is then. get in the car, we're going." Roy tugged Jason off the couch. the two arrived at their desired destination and enjoyed their meals. the two spent the rest of the night hanging around town, just having a good time and Roy ended up spending the night at Jason's. Jason admittedly had a lot more enjoyable birthday this time than his last birthday. things finally started to look up for Jason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Happy new year, everyone! Hope 2020’s been good to you all so far! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Don’t forget to follow my Instagram @/shooting.broken.arrows if you’re interested in keeping up with me and the rest of my stories!


	11. Secret snipers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy late chapters, Batman! I’m so so so so sorry this chapter is three hours late! I was busy this morning and last night so I didn’t get it written then and didn’t get it written in time earlier today, and finally finished it a few minuets ago. So sorry it’s late, but here you go, hope you guys enjoy!!

Nightwing was running across rooftops heading down to a loading dock near the edge of Gotham city. he found some valuable information and he knew he had to inform his former mentor. he didn't care if he was nineteen years old and living on his own in an apartment in Bludhaven, this was something important that Batman would probably want to know. Nightwing reached his desired destination and stood on a pile of large metal crates. he glanced around quickly and noticed the cowled vigilante a few feet in front of him, dodging attacks from the android villain, Amazo.

"packs quite the punch for a toaster on steroids, huh? need a hand?" he offered casually. 

"no." Bruce responded shortly. 

'ok.... well, how about I just stick around and watch?" Dick stated, a tone of fake offence in his voice. 

Dick jumped and pulled a swift, well practiced front flip and landed on the ground with ease, running to Bruce's aid. they fought side by side and had the android taken down within an hour. now it was time to talk to the crooks who brought Amazo here. 

"this shipment was meant for the Black Mask, I doubt you're behind this. who do you work for?" Batman asked, though it sounded more of a demand rather than a question. 

"i swear. we're not working for anybody! this was our gig, all our idea!" 

"let it go." Batman requested casually, turning to face his former protege. 

"right." Nightwing said, pushing a button on the remote in his hand. the three criminals started to scream as Amazo started to fall from a loading crane above them. 

"stop, i'll talk! I'll talk! just.. stop... STOP!" the same crook from earlier pleaded. 

Nightwing pressed the button again and the metal body of the android stopped falling mid-air. 

"the Red Hood! we're working for the Red Hood!" the thief said as oil dripped onto his face. he went to continue but was stopped by a bullet meeting his chest, along with the other two crooks with him. Batman and Nightwing instinctively backed up and hid behind to large metal crates. 

"a sniper! it came from the rooftops back there!" Nightwing informed, pointing behind him with his thumb. Bruce pulled out a pair of binoculars and chanced a look in the direction that his son had pointed. he saw a man in a leather jacket, a gray collared shirt and a red helmet. 

"did you see him?" Nightwing asked. 

"yeah. I'm going after him." Bruce stated, running off in the direction of the sniper. 

"hey! what about-....." Dick was about to ask what he was supposed to do, but gave up when his former mentor jumped into the batwing. 

"right. leave me with them." 

Batman followed the sniper up and down the streets until his car crashed into the side of an Ace Chemicals building. instinctively, Batman ran into the building after him. Batman stopped on an all to familiar balcony. he knew this building. this balcony. every detail was exactly the same as the night he showed up to stop a heist and one of the believed to be Criminals fell over the railing into a vat of chemical waste. Batman got so caught up in his mind he didn't notice someone standing behind him and almost jumped when the figure spoke up. 

"hard to forget that night, huh? you know, in a way, Batman, this was the site of your first great failure. maybe your greatest. but certainly not your last, right? ah, memories." the figure spoke, pointing a gun at the bat as he moved out from the shadows. he moved the gun to point at the roofless blue car lodged into one of the vats of chemical waste just as he pulled the trigger, causing an explosion. Batman quickly dodged the explosions and made his way out through the roof but was blasted further toward the ground quicker than he'd planned as the entire chemical plant went up in flames. Batman swiftly climbed into the batwing and headed back to the batcave to meet with Nightwing. 

the two sat at the batcomputer, maskless but in full uniform nonetheless. 

"this little bit of intels what brought me to town, good thing i've always had perfect timing, take a look." Nightwing suggested as he plugged a USB into the batcomputer. 

" got this shot from a snitch, says this guys been making some serious moves." Nightwing informed. 

"the Red Hood..." Bruce noted. 

"could be. he bares a resemblance to the original." Dick stated. 

"several criminals have used this persona." Bruce mumbled. 

"one criminal of particular interest though, huh? but he's locked up." 

"not his M.O either..." Bruce noted. 

"there's been an uptick in heavy trafficking, but crime is down." 

"Indeed it is." Alfred stated as he walked in with tea and cookies. 

"master Bruce got almost three hours sleep in the last two days, a true busman's holiday." 

"but he is locked up. like... a lot locked up," Dick stated. 

"maybe we should go for a visit." Dick continued, looking to his left, he frowned when he noticed the older vigilante wasn't in the chair next to him. 

"could you just once say 'let's get in the car'? is that so hard?" Dick grumbled, jumping into the batmobile. the two heroes pulled out of the cave and drove off into the big city to Arkham Asylum. 

eerie bone chilling laughter echoed through the halls of the medical institute. the type of laugh that no one wanted to hear. the kind that made your hair stand on end. 

"you look good. been working out?" the Joker asked sarcastically. 

"you could probably use a little sun. then again, who am I to talk?" the clown burst out into face whitening laughter. Batman grew impatient and threw photos of their mystery sniper on the table that separated him and Nightwing from the Joker. 

"he's calling himself the Red Hood. what do you know about it?" Batman interrogated. 

"that he has horrible taste. when i wore that number it was classy. more flashy maitre de than motorcycle fetish. ah these kids today." 

"if you're behind this in any way we will find out. you're not-" 

"oh, bird boy, you're so much less fun now. all grown up and in your big boy pants," Joker said, cutting Nightwing off. 

"still, better off than his replacement though, right? even tougher making with the yucks when you're worm food, huh" Joker stated, looking the older vigilante in the eyes. Batman bared his teeth, grabbed joker by the collar of his old jumpsuit, and threw him against the wall. Joker was about to fall but the bat caught him by the throat and pinned him to the wall of the cell. Joker smiled sinisterly. 

"you gonna do it this time? or are you just gonna put me in another body cast for six months?" Joker smiled even wider. the same smile he used before he closed the warehouse door on Jason. Batman noticeably increased his grip on the clowns throat and Nightwing took a step forward to intervene if needed. the sound of the clowns feet hitting the floor echoed through the room as Batman took a step back. 

"so disappointing.'" Joker mused. 

"but, back to the matter at hand. this new hoodie... do you really think I would stir up so much trouble and not make sure you knew it was me?" Joker burst into the scarily built up laughter as the vigilantes made their way out. the same laugh. the last thing Jason ever heard from a human being. no, screw that. Joker wasn't human. he was a psychotic piece of filth that everybody in the city feared. everyone but Jason. the only thing Jason feared was being part of a family again. even if he didn't realize it. maybe that was why he was going to make Bruce guess and guess. give him barely enough of what he needed and then take it away. that was his plan as the Red Hood and he intended to pull it off. it was time for him to go to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I had fun writing this, and I’m glad to post it! Don’t forget to follow my Instagram, @/shooting.broken.arrows to keep up with me and my stories and don’t forget to tune in next Sunday for chapter twelve!!


	12. Flashbacks

Jason ran into the back alley as fast as he could. he needed to hide.

"Get back here, brat! stop! give that back!" an angry pedestrian shouted as he chased the small 12 year old. Jason saw a latter and jumped up to grab onto the bottom peg of it, stuffing the bread he stole into his mouth for the time being. he looked back at the angry chef and smirked before turning his head back to the latter, beginning to climb. he got to the top of the building and looked down at his chaser, taking a bite of the bread and flipping the chef off. 

"ha, loser." Jason muttered. the young ebony swiftly turned on his heel and started to run and jump across the rooftops, hearing nothing more than an echoed "you brat!" as his feet started to take him across the city. Jason stopped as he came across another alley with something unique in it that caught the child's attention. "holy shit... the batmobile? sweet!" Jason jumped on to the latter and scaled down into the alley. Jason pulled a tire iron out of the small bag he had with him that had a majority of his belongings. at least the ones that were important to him, anyway. "jackpot." Jason whispered as he spotted a tire jack in a pile of random objects along the walls of the ally. he walked over, grabbed the tool, and dragged it over to the vehicle sitting in the middle of the ally. 

Jason propped up the front left side of the vehicle and began working at taking the hubcaps off. with those and the tires he could make some serious cash. After a good while Jason finally popped off the last hubcap and removed the first tire from the batmobile. The young thief was so caught up in stealing the tires he didn't notice someone walking up behind him. Jason wiped his forehead with his sleeve and stood up to move the tire jack to the backend of the vehicle when the unnoticed figure cleared their throat, making the young ebony jump. 

"you seem to know what you're doing pretty well, kid. for a while there i was considering letting you finish the job." Batman said. Jason raised his brow and glanced at the tool in his hand. the street kid gripped the tire iron in his fist and glared at batman. Jason decided to introduce the bat to the tool and hit the older vigilante upside the jaw with the tire iron. Once Jason's action was completed he snatched his bag from the ground, took his opening and bolted out of the alley. the bat smirked and shook his head lightly. 

"that ballsy little shit..." Within half an hour Batman had tracked down his tire theif down and brought him back to the crime scene. 

"you mind fixing this for me, kid?" the bat asked, gesturing toward the tire and hubcaps scattered on the ground. 

"mmm. yeah, no thanks." 

"you've got some serious guts, kid. takes a lot of bravery to jack the bats car like that." Batman stated. Jason rolled his eyes. 

"it's also pretty ballsy of you to assume i wasn't doing it for a reason." Jason growled through gritted teeth. 

"Care to tell me why? along with your name?" 

"no, not really." Jason said, deadpanning and looking anywhere but at the vehicle or the bat. 

"kid. i wanna help you. but... I can't do that if you don't let me. Bruce Wayne would probably be able to help you too." the bat knelt down beside Jason. Jason turned to look at his captor. 

"I'm a simple street kid. people like you and him don't care about rats like me. Hell, I tried to steal your tires and you wanna help me?" Jason levelled the bat with a glare. 

"we do though. Mr Wayne isn't your typical billionaire. there's a lot more to this story than you’re giving me i think. why don't you fix my tires and then we can talk. I can help you." Batman put a hand on the young boys shoulder. there was something about this kid. something Batman had only ever seen in one other kid before. Jason wasn't your average street kid and he wasn't like the rest. Batman could tell. he's always there to help a kid or anyone in need but this kid was a bit twisted in a unique way and could end up being the biggest, baddest villain Batman would ever face if the kid's car got steered the wrong way. Jason sighed and reluctantly got down and put the tire and hubcaps back on the batmobile. after he was finished, Batman popped open the doors and Jason turned to walk away, his face deflating immeasurably. he should've known better to believe that someone actually wanted to hear his sob story. No one wanted to be at little Jayjay's pity party. 

"Where do you think you're going?' the bat cleared his throat. 

"I told you we were gonna talk and I was gonna help you. did you forget?" Batman barely contained a smile at the way the little kid's face lit up. he couldn't fight it when the sweetest smile made its way to the child's face. he wasn't as mean and heartless as he seemed. he was just closed off. looking out for himself. Batman couldn't blame him. Batman nudged his head toward the unlocked and opened vehicle, still smiling. 

"get in." Jason seemed a bit hesitant and stood still for a second. 

"ah, what the hell. it's batman" he muttered quietly as he ran and jumped into the passenger seat. 

"you seem hungry. have you had anything to eat yet?" Batman asked. 

"I had a piece of bread I sto-..... found. but that was over an hour ago." 

"so you were the so-called 'brat' that old chef was yelling about. so you're a tire and a bread thief." Batman stated. 

'hey. I bet you'd do the same thing if you were in my shoes. I stop fighting, I stop breathing. stealing is how i survive. besides. it was only a single slice." Jason defended. 

"What do you want to eat? you can pick anything. whatever you want." 

"...anything I want, huh?" 

half an hour later the two were sitting quietly, enjoying meals. Batman munching on a cheeseburger and fries, while Jason munched on chicken nuggets with fries and a loaf of bread." 

"not judging, kiddo. but how come you wanted a loaf of bread?" Batman asked. 

"I dunno. I just love bread, I guess. It's my favourite thing to snack on. I usually keep a spare mini loaf in my bag but I ran out the other day. Bruce couldn't help but smile and shake his head. This kid was just plain adorable. almost to adorable for his own good, but he could strip the paint off a wall with how hard a death glare he could give. he'd been on the receiving end of one earlier that night when he'd caught Jason to drag him back to the batmobile. the two spent the next few hours until bruce was thinking about the way Jason had been moving around that night. he'd seen this kid around the streets on a number of occasions. the way Jason was running and climbing almost made it seem like he was injured more than from what Bruce's eyes could see. Bruce was concerned when he'd finally gotten a good look at Jason when he got up to throw something in the garbage can and had gotten caught in the light from a street lamp. 

"Hey, kiddo, I still haven't caught your name." 

"I still haven't thrown it." Jason responded. Bruce shook his head softly with a smile as Jason hopped back up onto where he was sitting. 

"...Jason..." Bruce looked up at the little boy, slightly confused. 

"My name is Jason. Jason Todd." Jason informed as he went to grab another slice of bread. 

"it's nice to officially meet you, Jason."


	13. Bittersweet memories (edited and complete)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I realized that the last time I tried uploading this chapter there was a huge chunk missing and I didn’t have anything written for today. So I decided to reuplqod this chapter with the missing part that had somehow gotten deleted. Enjoy!!

Roy walked into the warehouse and shook his head as he heard the sound of punching from the training room. he took off his hat, setting it on the table and cartes his hand through his fiery red hair, walking to the training room, hoping to find Jason. he got to the door and slowly opened the door, not wanting to scare Jason if he had headphones in for music while he trained. Roy's neutral expression shifted to worry as he spotted the smears of blood on the punching bag. he'd found Jason, but now he was worried. he swiftly walked up to the young ebony and grabbed his wrist to restrain him as he went to land a punch.

"hey. your gonna completely trash your hands. come on." Roy slowly pulled Jason back toward a bench near the door and pulled some bandages out of a bag of medical supplies that they always kept in the room. Jason did this more often than Roy would have liked to admit.

"here. this might sting a bit." Roy warned as he dabbed a wet cloth of polysporin on Jason's red and bloodied knuckles. the redhead bit his lip in remorse as the ebony winced at the sting in the fresh wounds.

"so, what happened? how come you didn't wrap before you started punching? stress? Anxiety? Did something go down with Bruce? you're not just trying to hurt yourself, are you, Jaybird?" Roy asked as he cleaned and bandaged his friend's wrist.

"i.... I dunno. maybe? it's complicated." Jason muttered.

"yeah. no. usually i let you get away with that, but not this time. look at how much you were bleeding." Roy gestured toward the once brown but stained red punching bag.

"Honestly, I don't know." Jason said.

"heh. This reminds me of when you first started training as Red X before you became Robin. you'd train to the point you were bleeding and then keep going until you were forced to stop." Roy stated as he finished the patch-job on his friend's hand.

"yeah. I guess you're right. kind of like when Bruce found me in the alley when i was twelve." Jason chuckled.

"you'd snuck out to get away from your father that night, right?"

"yeah. he was a lot more drunk than usual that night...."

It was just after suppertime. Jason was hiding in his room. until his father called him down at least. Jason slowly stood up and stepped out of his closet, and left the fake security of his dark room and started walking to the living room. Apparently he was taking too long though.

"Jason! Hurry up and get your ass down here, you waste of space!" Jason didn't hesitate to pick up his pace after that, running to the living room.

"yes?" Jason asked shakily.

"you mean yes 'sir'. be useful for once in your life and fetch me a beer, would you, brat?" Jason's father asked, though it was more a demand rather than request. Jason nodded.

"Yes, Sir." Jason said, drawing out the sir as he narrowed his eyes slightly.

"that wasn't attitude in your voice, was it? cause maybe this household would be better without children."

"no, sir." Jason said as he turned to walk into the kitchen, a scowl on his face.

"good. now hurry up and make yourself useful for once."

Jason walked into the kitchen and brushed passed his mother as she tried to catch his attention, headed straight to the fridge.

"Jason..."

"save it. I don't need to hear it. After this I'll be in my room if you need me." Jason said, his voice low and temperamental, threatening to raise at any moment. he retrieved the alcoholic drink from the fridge and brought it back to the living room.

"here." Jason said, handing it to his father.

"Excuse me?"

"I said 'here'. as in take the damn drink." Jason repeated, glaring. he was done putting up with his fathers bullshit. He was sick of it. Jason wasn't too terribly surprised when an empty beer bottle met his side, shattering on impact as he was shoved toward the floor. the beer bottle came back to meet his cheek, leaving three jagged cuts across his face to go along with the bruise on his jaw and the bandaged cut on his nose and the healing slit in his brow. he didn't hesitate to listen though when his father growled four words.

"go to your room. do us both a favour and stay the fuck in there." Jason's father snapped as he kicked the young ebony father away, hitting the child in the stomach. Jason scrambled to his feet and bolted to his room, locking the door behind him. Jason was done with this. he couldn't stand living in this house anymore and he hated the constant smell of alcohol that stuck around. he was gonna disappear. make his way to another city if he had to. he knew he just needed to get out of this house. he couldn't take one more second of being trapped in this living hell. he changed into a slim black T-shirt and an old red hoodie, choosing to leave his blue jeans alone, and quietly opened the window. Jason grabbed a small black bag, and began putting some necessities in it. a tire iron, what little money he had, a small glass rose his mother gave him, though he wrapped it in a towel, among other things were slowly placed in his bag one by one. by the way he packed it wouldn't be hard to tell he wasn't planning on coming back. he carefully hopped up on the window sill and slowly pulled himself up on to the roof. Once he was safely on the top of the house, he made his way to the front end. Once he'd gotten to his required destination, he found pipe railing on the side of the house and carefully shimmied his way down to the ground. the second his feet hit the ground, he turned and looked at the road. Once he saw no cars coming he bolted across the street, being careful to stick to the shadows. he didn't want to risk getting caught in the light incase his father was looking out the front window and spotted him. After Jason had gotten out of sight he bolted for the centre of the city. Once he was there, he casually made his way into a small cafe. a nice lady that worked there usually gave him a few pieces of bread and a hot chocolate or other for free. when Jason didn't see her he walked up to the cashier's counter.

"ya want somethin' ya gotta get in line, kid." the cashier said, looking like he wanted nothing more than for Jason to get out of the cafe.

"oh, no. uh. I was just wondering, uhm... is Amelia working today? it's just, she usually gives me some bread and a drink"

"no, she ain't. now if you're not gonna get in line to buy somethin' get out." the Cashier said spitefully.

"oh. oh, yeah. ok. yeah, no i get it. I'll just leave then." Jason said as he turned to walk away. he happened to walk by a table with tones of fresh bread stacked up on it.

"but not without this...!" Jason whispered as he snatched a single slice.

"hey, PUT THAT BACK!" the cashier snapped, running out from behind the counter as Jason started to run out of the cafe. Within minutes the young ebony had led the chef to a dead end ally that only one of the two of them would be able to get out of.

Jason ran into the back alley as fast as he could. he needed to hide.

"Get back here, brat! stop! give that back!" an angry pedestrian shouted as he chased the small 12 year old. Jason saw a latter and jumped up to grab onto the bottom peg of it, stuffing the bread he stole into his mouth for the time being. he looked back at the angry chef and smirked before turning his head back to the latter, beginning to climb. he got to the top of the building and looked down at his chaser, taking a bite of the bread and flipping the chef off.

"ha, loser." Jason muttered. the young ebony swiftly turned on his heel and started to run and jump across the rooftops, hearing nothing more than an echoed "you brat!" as his feet started to take him across the city. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A few hours later there was a sight no one expected to see. the Batman hanging with a kid who couldn't possibly be any older than ten or twelve. Even more shocking, the two were casually enjoying a meal together. Batman munching on a cheeseburger and fries, while Jason munched on chicken nuggets with fries and a loaf of bread.

"not judging, kiddo. but how come you wanted a loaf of bread?" Batman asked.

"I dunno. I just love bread, I guess. It's my favourite thing to snack on. I usually keep a spare mini loaf in my bag but I ran out the other day. Bruce couldn't help but smile and shake his head. This kid was just plain adorable. almost to adorable for his own good, but he could strip the paint off a wall with how hard a death glare he could give. he'd been on the receiving end of one earlier that night when he'd caught Jason to drag him back to the batmobile. the two spent the next few hours until bruce was thinking about the way Jason had been moving around that night. he'd seen this kid around the streets on a number of occasions. the way Jason was running and climbing almost made it seem like he was injured more than from what Bruce's eyes could see. Bruce was concerned when he'd finally gotten a good look at Jason when he got up to throw something in the garbage can and had gotten caught in the light from a street lamp.

"Hey, kiddo, I still haven't caught your name."

"I still haven't thrown it." Jason responded. Bruce shook his head softly with a smile as Jason hopped back up onto where he was sitting.

"...Jason..." Bruce looked up at the little boy, slightly confused.

"My name is Jason. Jason Todd." Jason informed as he went to grab another slice of bread.

"it's nice to officially meet you, Jason."

"and... i hope you don't mind me asking, but what happened to your cheek? and how come on your sweater there's a darker red patch?" Batman questioned. he had a pretty decent idea of what happened to the poor twelve year old, but he needed to make sure. the bat couldn't help but notice the way Jason's expression darkened at the mention of his injuries.

"long story." Jason stated shortly.

"I've got the time. like i said, i want to help you." Batman said.

"i... I don't understand.." Jason muttered.

"don't understand what?"

"i just... i... i just don't get it..." Jason buried his face in his hands.

" What don't you get? I'm here for you. I want to help." the bat stated.

"That! That right there! That's what I don't get! I don't understand why!" the young ebony gestured toward the vigilante. Jason hadn't realized he raised his voice a little bit.

" get what? kiddo i want to help you, but i can't do that if you don't tell me how." it was surprising how calm the bat was staying.

"Why are you're being so kind to me! not bringing me in to the police for stealing your tires, buying me food, wanting to help me. i.... I don't get it....!" Jason hadn't realized how broken and uneven his voice had gone and didn't notice the tears that formed in his eyes.

"All my life i just wanted to feel like at least someone cared about me. to not be alone... t-to feel like i had a place in this world... like i actually belonged... but i knew i'd never learn how that felt. a-a-and then you come along and... i.. it just doesn't make any sense..." Jason blinked as a single tear slid down his cut cheek. the salty liquid stung when it reached the wound but Jason didn't care. Bruce could almost pinpoint the exact moment his heart shattered for this poor kid.

"because some people just want to do the right thing. and the right thing is helping you, kiddo. now... why don't you tell me what happened to you?" Batman consoled. Jason nodded and slowly explained what happened earlier that night and what he went through at home daily. Bruce was furious by the end of the poor little child's explanation. all the boy wanted was to feel loved. to feel like someone cared. yet his parents treated him like that? Was Bruce supposed to just stand by and let it happen? possibly. was he going to? definitely not. the dark knight had a new mission now. he was going to get Jason out of that house. he swore it. sure he'd take Jason in, but the kid still had parents, and he'd have to see how Dick and Alfred would handle that. But Bruce knew one thing for sure. that he was going to get Jason into a safe place. with a proper family. that he swore on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Don’t forget to follow my Instagram @/shooting.broken.arrows for updates on chapters and such! Don’t forget to tune in next Sunday for chapter 14!


	14. Hoods of red

Jason looked at himself in the mirror as he tugged the red helmet over his head. when he put on this helmet he almost became someone else entirely. it gave him a way to cover up his pain and not let anybody know who he really was. he couldn't help but notice that every time he went out in this costume he became a little more cruel. every time. he'd be lying if he said a good third of gotham didn't fear him already. the young bird let out a soft sigh and went to the back door of the safehouse. just outside hidden in the trees he could see his nice sleek black bike among the shrubbery.

"this things way better than that rusty old R cycle." Jason whispered as he stalked over to his bike. he made his way over to the shrubbery and walked over to the bike, taking a comfortable seat on the automobile. he started the bike and adjusted his foot.

"ahh, i love the smell of burning gasoline at nine oclock at night." Jason smiled. he revved the bike and drove off into the glistening soft yellow city lights. Jason arrived at his desired destination and hid his bike in a dark alley before making his way to the roof of a building that had a helipad on it. a shipment for the Black Mask was being dropped off here. Jason slipped on a white cloak that was left lying around and stood with the batch of Black Mask's men, blending in. he couldn't help the smirk that formed under his red mask when the helicopter came in for landing around Ten oclock.

"perfect timing." Jason whispered. The pilots were expecting the men to start unloading the weaponry from the helicopter but nobody moved. nobody besides Jason. he slipped onto the cockpit behind the pilots. the head-pilot turned to look at the co with a questioning look.

"the hell are they doing all standing around? protocol says i'm only supposed to be on the ground for six minutes!" the head-pilot complained, rolling his eyes when the co-pilot just shrugged.

"it's ok. I won't be staying that long." Jason smiled as he put a gun to the head-pilot's head.

"now get out." the men ran as fast as they could to get onto the roof of the building.

"now let's get this party started.' Jason let out a soft chuckle as he pulled off the ground. he was about to fly off when something hooked onto the bottom of the helicopter.

"ah, batsy. never disappoint, do you. to think, i almost thought you wouldn't show." Jason stated.

" oh... shit. backup, huh?" Jason muttered when he noticed the black and blue costume next to Batman fighting to take out the men on the roof. Jason sighed and jumped out of the helicopter, whipping out his grappling gun, firing it at another building and swung over to it, perching himself on the roof. Jason smirked as he watched the bat jump after the falling helicopter to try and stop it from hitting the ground, pulling out two heavy duty grappling guns. he fired one at the roof, one at the helicopter, and hooked the two guns together, Nightwing swooping down with his own grappling gun and grabbing hold of the bat, swinging them both to a safe roof. then they spotted Jason two roofs down.

"ok then... nice night for a run." Jason said as he stood up and began running across the rooftops, the bat and his bird not too far behind. Jason leapt onto a building that was still under construction and ran down a wooden plank, turning to run inside through some blue curtains. he still hadn't shaken the bat and bird so he grabbed a flammable hydrogen tank and lept through the glass window, throwing it back up toward his chasers, aimed his gun, and shot the tank. they continued the chase through another half constructed building and onto more rooftops, rounding corners here and taking jumps and leaps there. Jason rounded on last corner and decided to hitch a ride on a mini blimp, pulling out his two handguns, and turning to fire on the bat, purposefully missing. he didn't want to seriously hurt Bruce this early in his plan, and he didn't want to end up shooting Dick if he'd jumped out in front of the bat.

"he's good..." Nightwing noted as Batman ran back behind the corner.

"Yes, he's putting on quite the show." Batman grumbled. Jason put his guns away and jumped across the blimp onto the next building, the Bat and the Bird copying, and the chase continued. Jason rounded a corner and went to jump to the next building, but batman had thrown a wire around his foot. Jason whipped out a knife and cut the wire before it tightened.

"He's very good..." Nightwing restated as Batman roughly yanked the cord back toward him. Jason jumped around on a couple corners until he had nowhere left to jump. or so it looked.

"we got him!" Nightwing exclaimed. Jason smirked under his mask and jumped toward the monorail station. he grabbed onto a loose wire, swung himself around in a half circle, and jumped through the glass ceiling of the station. he quickly set the timer on a bomb he'd planted in the station and ran over to his bike. It wasn't long before the two vigilantes jumped through the hole in the ceiling into the station and glanced around.

"think we lost him?" Nightwing questioned. Batman turned and froze as he faced the bomb.

"get down!" After the smoke cleared, the bat heard his partner groan and turned to face Nightwing holding on tightly to his ankle. then he heard the rev of a bike.

" you haven't lost your touch, B-" the red hood started, though he was cut off by a passing train. By the time the train had finished running through the station, the Red Hood was already gone.

Bruce was sitting at the batcomputer going over the night’s footage of the chase from his cowl and was still in full costume, though he had taken said cowl off. Alfred was silently bandaging Dick's ankle behind him.

"he's got some moves, huh?"

"and as much as I hate to belabour a point..."

"and still, that is often exactly what you do, master Dick." Alfred said.

"I'm chatty. it's part of my charm." Dick retaliated.

"I'm saying that our boy here has some skills. He's been trained, and trained well." the injured ebony continued.

"like... that! that right there! he sliced that cable clean off his ankle before it went taut. you don't just do that. that has to be practiced, learned." Dick pointed out.

"and then there's the knife." Bruce stated.

"Yeah, what about it?"

" Do you know many knives that can cut my lines?" Bruce asked, though it had a more sarcastic rather than curious tone.

"not many." Dick said.

"no, not many."

"well, look. we've obviously got ourselves a player, we- ow!' Dick winced and grabbed his ankle. he tried moving off the table but his ankle had other plans.

"Alfred, take him home." Jason would have laughed if he could see the expression Dick had made at Bruce's request.

" Bruce, I can still help!" Dick said.

"you already have. Thank you. now go rest up." Bruce said, offering a small but warm smile.

"ok. but you know where to find me if you need me." Dick huffed softly as he took the crutches Alfred handed him.

"he did just thank me, right?" Dick asked softly.

"Indeed he did, master Dick." Alfred confirmed as he assisted Dick to make his way out of the batcave. A few minutes later, Bruce kept going over the red hoods line at the train station. He could tell there was something after "you haven't lost your touch" but he couldn't find out what. Eventually he took the train noise and turned its volume on the clip down. Bruce almost spit out his coffee when he heard the complete sentence.

"you haven't lost your touch, Bruce!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry about the lateish chapter! I have family over and lost track of time. Anyway. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Don’t forget to follow my Instagram for updates and such! Don't forget to tune in next Sunday for chapter 15!!


	15. Part of the plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey y’all! So sorry this chapter is a day late! I got super busy yesterday and completely missed noon and wouldn’t have had time to finish it because it wasn’t done on time, so I finished it last night. Hope you enjoy!!

Jason woke up to the irritational beeping of his alarm. He groaned and hit it with his hand to silence the annoying device. A few minutes later he decided to get up out of bed and get dressed and ready for the day. He walked out into the kitchen and opened one of the cabinets, a unimpressed look forming on his face.

"great. out of bread." Jason sighed. He walked disappointedly to the front door, grabbing Roys car keys off the counter. Jason quickly wrote a note and left it for Roy saying he borrowed his car to run to the store and set it where the redhead's keys were. Once Jason got to the store, he went straight to the bread section. He scanned through his options and smiled when he saw his favorite brand, and his face lit up in an almost childlike way when he saw that there was a new brand on the shelf. so, naturally, he did as anyone would do and grabbed one loaf of each kind. He threw the bread in a basket and pulled out his phone.

"Jaybird: hey, idk if you got the note i left, but i'm at the store right now. i got some bread, but is there anything else that we need that i should grab while i'm here?"

"archer Boi: hi. umm idk. we might need peanut butter? i think we need some more milk too. and if you could pick up something for supper tonight that'd be great"

"jaybird: alright. what do you want for supper?"

"archer boi: hmmm. a burgers sounding pretty good right about now"

"Jaybird: okie. I'll pick some up here and then i'll cook them tonight. should i just stop and pick something up on the way home for lunch?"

"archer boi: if you want to sure"

"jaybird: alright, what do you want"

"Archer boi: uhm. hmmmmm. Batburger sounds decent i guess"

"jaybird: wow.

"jaybird: really?

"jaybird: you do this every time."

"archer boi: i know"

"archer boi: i'm your best friend, i'm supposed to do this"

"jaybird: i'll be home soon.

Jason stuffed his phone back in the backpocket of his jeans and went to get the peanut butter, burgers and milk. when he went to grab the milk he ran into the last person he expected to. the one person who was bound to recognize him no matter what. god how was Jason going to play it off like he hadn't known this man most of his entire life? with a damn miracle, that's how. he never would've expected to run into Dick Grayson at the grocery store. It'd been months since the monorail station incident and Jason thought that his older brother was still in Bludhaven. but of course, he just had to come to gotham. great. Jason couldn't help but notice the things his brother had in the basket. cupcakes, candles, and ingredients to make a cake. Why would Dick be buying those things? Jason shook his head and went up to grab a jug of white milk. He glanced out the corner of his eye and noticed the older ebony was staring at him.

“uhm, hi. is... is something wrong?” Jason said, mentally cursing himself for stuttering.

"hm? oh.. oh sorry. no nothing's wrong... you just... look kind of like someone i used to know. sorry.." the older ebony responded slowly.

"meh, don't worry about it. is it someone's birthday?" Jason asked, glancing at the basket Dick had in his hand.

oh, yeah. my little brother's, actually." Dick informed, smiling.

"oh? how old's he turning?" Jason asked.

"oh, uhm fourteen! my other brother would've been turning eighteen last august, and there was quite an age gap between these two."

'would've...? what... happened?" Jason only asked this because he didn't want to make Dick suspicious. It was already a stretch talking to him in general. Jason couldn't have Bruce and Dick knowing he was alive just yet. it would ruin his plans.

"oh, it's a long story, really. anyway, i gotta get home. this cake won't make itself!" Dick said with a smile, though Jason could see the pain and sadness reflected in the ebonys bright blue eyes.

"Yeah, I gotta get outa here too, my friend's waiting for me to swing by with lunch so. see you around i guess." Jason said, offering a slightly awkward smile. Dick returned the gesture and the both left, walking off in opposite directions. 

Later that night Jason went to the far side of the city near gotham bridge and parked his bike in a dark alleyway. He'd showed up just in time to watch the police attempt to come down off a prison transport bus he was undoubtedly using for cover. The clown had hostages too. the Black Mask himself along with a couple of his lackeys. Jason had succeeded in part one of his plan. pushing the Mask to the point of busting Joker out of Arkham. just as Jason had planned. Now he could proceed with the second part of his plan. He slowly made his way up to the top of the Gotham Bridge and stood in the shadows. as he made his way up he noticed the joker was singing something as he poured Gasoline into the truck over his victims. A few minutes after Jason had taken a spot atop the bridge, the clown lifted a hatch on the roof of the truck and dropped the jerry can full of gas in with the hostages, pulling a lighter out of his pocket. the policemen in the helicopters inevitably noticed him, one having called out "hey! who's that? over on the bridge!". Jason couldn't help but smile as the spotlight from the helicopters shone down on him, taking the attention away from the psychotic mass murderer with hostages. The joker didn't seem too fond of someone else stealing his thunder. so he called out to the man in the red helmet and leather jacket.

"hey, look at you! Mister Hood! or do you prefer Red?" the Joker asked to no avail as Jason refused to answer him.

"y'know, i used to wear an outfit a lot like that when I was younger, though mine was more flashy maitre D' than motorcycle fetish. you kids today" the Joker continued. after his spiel the joker turned back to his hand and started messing with the lighter to try and get it to light up.

"I'm sorry, could you hang on a minute? I gotta get back to mass homicide, setting fire to your gang." the joker called out, still looking at the lighter.

"sure. smoke 'em if you got 'em. you think I care if that scum dies?" Jason stated.

" dunno. i just wanted your attention!" joker responded.

"oh, you've always had my attention. but what i really wanted was an audience with you." Jason said, making the joker raise an eyebrow at him.

"im sorry, but that seems to imply that you organized this little clambake." the clown stated.

"i did. sure i had lots of plans but the endgame was getting black mask so desperate... that he'd cut a deal. He was the only one with the connections to get into arkham, and get you out." Jason explained.

"so, I've been bamboozled. oh my..."

"i wouldn't undersell it. it took a lot of work to bring about our reunion." Jason said.

"reunion? have we met before?" the joker questioned.

"yes. we have." Jason said lowly.

"well, here's to warm memories!" the joker said as he struck the lighter one last time, finally getting it to light. then with that same devilish smirk he'd always had, he dropped the inflamed object into the truck. Just as the inside of the truck started to light up with an orange glow, the Batwing swung down overtop and dropped a wire foam over top of and inside the truck, extinguishing the fire. Jason watched intensely as the batwing did a semi=circle turn and came back toward the truck, a hook dropping from the bottom. the plane passed over the truck and the hook latched onto the clown prince of crime, pulling him up to the bridge. Jason couldn't let this happen. He needed something to force bruce to follow him. to come after him. so Jason ran to where the wire was and grabbed onto it as both he and joker swung over gotham harbour. Jason pulled out his knife and cut the rope, letting both him and the clown fall into the water below. Jason pulled himself and the clown from the river, knocked his killer unconscious, and dragged the wet body toward his bike. He pulled out a communicator and opened a private line to the batwing.

Bruce raised a brow as an unknown caller ID showed up on the dashboard of the batwing. with the feeling he already knew who it was, he answered.

"who is this?" Bruce asked, keeping his voice low, calm and steady.

"I have the clown. You want him back? meet me at crime alley. midnight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! Hope you engined the chapter! Follow my Instagram @/shooting.broken.arrows for updates on late chapters ETC!! Don’t forget to tune in on Sunday for chapter 16!!


	16. Endgame (prt 1)

Jason quietly took the unconscious clown off the ground of the alleyway, threw him on the back of his bike, and started said vehicle. He threw his leg over the seat and made himself comfortable. after revving the engine a few times, he hit the kickstand with the back of his heel and pushed it up and off the ground, where it was out of the way. he revved the engine once more and started off toward an old apartment safehouse he and Roy would sneak out too and meet up in when they were younger. By the time he'd gotten there, the joker had awoken, and the young bat had to drag the mass murderer into the abandoned apartment building. He forced the joker into a chair and tied him to it.

"tied me up enough yet, pal-" Jason finished tying the clown's hands with rope and began securing him with handcuffs. 

"-oooh, rope and cuffs huh? kinky!" the Joker stated shamelessly. Jason let out a near feral growl and slapped the Joker upside the hide. hard. hard enough that he wanted to do it again. again and again until the joker realized who he was. until he felt he'd done it enough to make the joker pay for taking his life and everything he had with it. but he didn't. He wanted Bruce to be the one to make him pay. He wanted to let Bruce know who he was and force the bat's hand in making Joker pay for everything he's done. not just to Jason, but to everyone. the families he's torn apart, the lives he's ruined. He wanted Joker to pay for everything tonight. and it was an expensive price to pay. one that should've given this psychopath a death-penalty long ago. 

"shut up, you asshole. believe me when i say i've met some pricks in my life. but you? your the fucking cactus-" Jason pulled out his gun and aimed right between the Joker's eyes. if he shot he wanted to hit the joker with a bullet in a place the joker hit him with a crowbar. 

"-now listen. and listen well, because you might not live to see the light of another day if you don't. I'm going to lock you in this closet-" 

"again, kinky-" 

"-i said listen well. and i mean it. Now, I'm going to lock you in this closet, and I'm going to leave the building. When I come back, I'll hopefully not be alone. When I come back into this room, you're going to be as quiet as possible until you and I aren't the only ones who know you're here. got it?" Jason explained spitefully. 

"yes. But how do I know when you and me aren't the only ones that know I'm in the closet?" The joker asked, a look of sickening curiosity in his eyes. 

"i have a feeling you'll just know. now im putting you in the closet, so i suggest you shut the fuck up." Jason growled. 

"ok fi-" Jason re-aimed his gun at the clowns pasty white face too emphasize that he wasn't joking, 

"-shut. the fuck. up. or i'll put one in your lap first." Jason snarled. After Jason secured the psychotic killer, he adjusted his helmet and left for crime alley. 

Jason arrived at the meeting place, expecting to need to wait a little while to meet the bat, considering it was 11:40 and the Joker being weirdly cooperative, leaving Jason to be ahead of schedule, but was surprised to find that the bat had already been there. He was just staring down the alley. at an all to familiar spot. a spot that him and a little boy met for the first time in. The boy was extremely interested in the hubcaps he was caught trying to steal. 

"familiar place, huh? to be honest with you, i almost thought you weren't going to come." Jason monologued, stepping out of the shadows and into the light and rain for the bat to see him. 

"This ends tonight, red hood. all of it." Batman stated, making his intentions clear. 

"you're wrong if you think anybody knows that better than me-'' Jason drew out shurikens and threw them in the bats' direction. Batman dodged the attack by jumping behind an old dumpster in the alley. He kicked the giant metal box in Jason's direction, the skilled former vigilante jumping over it with ease. Batman was quick to react and pulled out a rope, throwing it around Jason's ankles and pulling him to the ground. 

"heh, you and your gadgets-" Jason pulled out a knife and cut the bats wire, an electric wave travelling up the wire and shocking the bat. 

"you're not the only one with toys," Jason said and began running toward the dark knight before the bat recovered from the shock and threw mini bombs the size of marbles at Jason's feet. 

"crap-'' Jason muttered before jumping toward a ladder in the alley as the bombs went off. Jason climbed up the ladder and onto the roof quickly, and began to fight the bat again. Batman went to throw a left-hook at Jason, Jason blocked it easily, but used the hand he had his knife in. he kneed the vigilante in the stomach, dropped the knife into his other hand, and hooked it through the bats utility belt, slicing clean through it as the yellow material fell to the ground. Bruce recovered, spun around, and ran at Jason full force, tackled the younger by the waste, and they flew across the street onto the next roof. Jason hit a small wall on the roof and fell to the floor. Bruce walked up behind him, and went to grab Jason's shoulder. Jason blocked the older's hand, turning over. and grabbed the bat's mask, pulling it off as he rolled backward to escape getting pinned. He picked up his knife from the ground, chuckling. 

"look at you-" Jason threw the bat's mas bat at him. 

"i guess we should keep it even," Jason raised his hands and took off the red helmet, dropping it to the ground. 

"Jason..." lightning flickered with the rain and for a moment, Bruce swore he saw the sweet little bird in the red and black uniform he once knew again. 

"yeah. it's me." 

"I don't want to fight you," Bruce said calmly. 

"all evidence to the contrary," Jason stated. 

"please, i can help you. i know what happened,``Bruce informed. 

"oh so you got to talking to Ra's, huh? but does it make it easier for you to think that my little dip in his fountain of youth turned me rabid? or is this just the real me?" Jason kicked the helmet toward Bruce to emphasize what he meant. Bruce stopped the helmet with his foot. -to be continued-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Don’t forget to follow my Instagram for story updates etc @/shooting.broken.arrows! (In case your having trouble finding me, the / isn’t part of my username, I put it there so I don’t accidentally @ anyone here who might have the same user) don’t forget to tune in next Sunday at noon Canadian time for part two and chapter seventeen!


	17. Endgame (prt 2)

Jason Kicked the shiny wet red helmet across the roof and watched as it came to a rolling stop underneath Bruce's foot. Bruce glanced up at his ward with a questioning look and saw the smirk across Jason's lips. not a moment later the red helmet trapped under his foot exploded like a bomb, sending Bruce flying backward. Bruce tugged his mask back over his face as Jason clenched the knife in his hand and the fight between the bat and his bird broke out again. Jason kicked Bruce harshly, sending him sliding across the gripless rooftop.

"tell me-" Jason bolted behind him and caught Bruce in a headlock, a knife pressed to the olders throat,

"-what bothers you more? that your greatest failure has returned from the grave, or that i've become a better Batman than you?" Bruce grabbed Jason and pulled him over top of himself, freeing himself of Jason's lock. He had to fight to keep Jason from pinning him.

"you're ruling Gotham’s drug trade and gangs through intimidation and murdur, you're just another criminal!"

"im what this city needs!" Jason barked. Jason pushed against Bruce a little harder and then let go of most of his pressure, letting himself get pushed back, driving his knife down into the ground. he quickly stood up and pulled a hook-ended wire out of his jacket as he moved around Bruce. he wrapped the wire around Bruce's body and threw the hooked end at a higher peak of the building. the hook pulled Bruce with it and he crashed into the peak. Bruce barely had enough time to get the wire off of him before Jason had pounced on him from behind and fists started flying. Bruce grabbed Jason's wrist with his one hand and punched him hard in the face with the other, using his small window he'd created to push Jason up and back against the wall. Jason glanced at Bruce's wrist and noticed the small cigarette shaped tool on it.

"hidden goodies all over, huh? we're both just a couple of walking armeries." Jason said with a chuckle.

"Maybe, but let's see how you do without your toys!" Bruce said as he grabbed the item, pressing a button to make it burst out in flames. He dropped the cigarette shaped device on Jason's jacket and the leather garment erupted in flames as the device itself had done only seconds ago. Jason pushed Bruce off of him and tore the Jacket off, chucking it over the edge of the building to fall to the ground.

"That was Dick's old jacket..." Jason whispered, silent anger building up inside him. Dick had given him that jacket the day before he left for the offworld mission he was on when Jason died. it was extremely oversized at the time but it fit him perfectly now and Jason almost never took it off. it was the one thing he had of his big brother. now it was burnt too, just like the warehouse he was trapped in. covered in the thing that took his life only a few years ago. Jason narrowed his eyes with a sneer and grabbed the grappling hook off the ground and threw it across the way to another building. He jumped off the peak and swung to the next building. Jason ran along the small edge that went around the building and rounded a corner. He jumped off the corner and crashed through a window into an abandoned apartment building. Bruce followed. good. everything was going the way Jason had planned. Jason stood up and turned toward the window only to be shoved back harshly into a tub in the old bathroom of the apartment as the bat came flying through the window, his feet meeting Jason's ribs and stomach.

"Enough, Jason! it's over! just let me help you!" Bruce pleaded. Jason stood up and attempted to punch the bat, though the bat stepped aside and elbowed Jason in the stomach, sending the antihero to the wall. Jason ricocheted off the wall and Bruce Punched him in the stomach. the bat then grabbed Jason by the back of the head and shoved his face toward the wall opposite of the one he'd just bounced off of. Jason's face hit the tile bathroom wall so hard that the tile shattered. Jason grabbed a decent sized shard. he turned around and attempted to slash the bat with it. Bruce hit Jason with a left hook. Jason pulled a back handspring and came back at Bruce with a punch. Bruce dodged and Jason's fist hit the tile wall. Bruce Grabbed Jason from behind and threw him backward and Jason's face collided with the bathroom sink, and blood started pouring from his nose to go with his bruised and scraped cheek. Jason bounced off the sink, doing a complete turn over and his nose got introduced to the toilet seat. He wiped the blood from his broken nose and stood up defiantly. Bruce growled and Jason raised his fists to the side of his head to block Bruce’s from hitting him. When Bruce was blocked he dove lower and punched Jason in the lower ribcage. he then grabbed the bird and pinned him to the wall.

“you say you wanna be better than me, but it won't happen-" Bruce raised his fist.

"-not like this!" Bruce's fist met Jason's ribcage one last time as the young anti-hero was sent through the thin wall. Bruce stepped through the wall and looked down at his son. the same son he'd lost four years ago. He looked down and saw his little boy all grown up. to anyone else Jason would still look like the same nineteen-year-old he was, but to Bruce? Bruce looked into those masked eyes and he still saw that sweet twelve-year-old boy who'd just put on the Robin suit for the first time. He looked into those eyes and he still saw that same fifteen-year-old kid he wasn't there for when he was needed most. but he took in the state that his boy was in and saw the years he'd missed with his son. all the time he'd lost. what had he just done? that didn't matter now. What mattered now is that he showed Jason he was here now, and that he wasn't giving up on him. because criminal or not this was still his boy. his boy that he knew he wouldn't give up on the moment he looked into those green eyes in the alleyway all those years ago. this was his boy and nothing was going to change that.

"...i know i failed you. but i tried to save you, Jason. i... im trying to save you now..." Bruce said softly.

"is that what you think this is about-" Jason sat up and pulled a gun on Bruce,

"-that you let me die?"

"I don't know what clouds your judgement worse. your guilt or your antiquated sense of morality." Jason said.

"bruce i forgive you... for not saving me. but why? Why on god's earth-" Jason kicked the door of an old closet and the wooden plank shattered, revealing the Joker tied and bound to a chair,

"is he still alive!?"

~to be continued~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Don’t forget to tune in next Sunday for chapter 18! And don’t forget to follow my Instagram @/shooting.broken.arrows for updates on stories!


	18. endgame (prt 3)

Jason used the hand with the gun clenched in it to gesture angrily toward the joker as the clown hopped out. He didn't notice that he was gripping the gun hard enough to turn his knuckles white underneath his black elbow-lengh gloves. even if he did notice he wouldn't have cared. his focus was keeping his eyes trained carefully in a glare on the bat in front of him.

"admit it, batsy. you gotta give the boy points! he came all the way back from the dead just to make this shin-dig happen!" the Joker stated.

"so, who's got a camera? ooh, ooh! get one of me and the kid first! then you and me! then the three of us! and then one with the crowbar-" Joker was cut off when he was hit from behind and knocked onto his side, still bound to the chair Jason had tied him too earlier.

"Again, you're gonna be as quiet as possible. just like before, shut up or i'll put one in your lap first." Jason said as he knelt down and pressed a gun to the back of Jokers head.

"party pooper. no cake or treats for you, mr. killjoy." Joker pouted.

"ignoring what he's done in the past-" Jason stood up, resuming his glare on Bruce,

" blindly, stupidly disregarding the entire graveyards he's filled, the thousands who've suffered, the friends he's crippled, _the families he's torn apart._" Jason snapped, not realizing how personal he'd started getting.

"you know.. i thought-...." jason took a minute to swallow thickly and clear his throat as his voice began to crack,

"I thought I'd be the last person this bastard would hurt. that the suffering would end after me. i thought i'd be the last person _you_ would let him hurt..."

"if it had been you... or Dick... either of you that he'd beaten to a bloody goddamned pulp, if he had taken one of you from this world i would've done nothing but search the planet for this pathetic pile of evil death worshiping garbage!" Jason didn't realize he'd started raising his voice near the end of his spiel.

"and sent him off to hell! give hima taste of his own medicine! made him pay for the shit he's done!" Jason added.

"you don't understand..." Bruce said calmly. that pissed Jason off more. all this and Bruce was being calm? Jason wasn't having it. not tonight. tonight was the night joker got what he deserved. Jason was gonna make sure of that. He wouldn't let either of them leave the building until the pasty faced bastard paid. for everything. what he did to Jason, and everyone else. He was gonna make sure that tonight, the lives this man took rested in peace knowing their killer had finally been brought to justice. That's what this was. right? an act of justice. a thin line stood between justice and revenge. and that line was starting to blur ever so slightly for the younger ebony. but Jason couldn't tell and didn't care. In justice or not, Joker was gonna pay for his crimes against humanity. it was what's fair. fair? huh. he was beginning to sound like Harvey Dent.

"honestly, i don't think you've ever understood." Bruce continued.

"what? Understood what, Bruce? what your moral code just won't allow for that? It's too hard to cross that line? just once? for your partner? _for your son?_" Jason seethed.

"no! god almighty- no..." Bruce realized he'd raised his voice unintentionally and tried to calm himself.

"it'd be too damned easy, Jason. all i've ever wanted to do is kill him," Bruce confessed.

"a day doesn't go by where i don't think at least once about subjecting him to every horrendous torcher he's dealt out to others and then... end him." Bruce continued.

"aww. so you do think about me." Joker smiled sinisterly. Jason kicked the chair.

"shut. up." Jason growled, receiving a pout from the clown.

"But if i do that Jason? if i stoop down so low? if i allow myself to go down into that place? walk down that road? take that path? i'll never come back." Bruce said, getting the younger anti-hero to look at him again. Jason glared hopelessly.

"why?" Jason asked, his voice just above a whisper. He continued with a quivering, breaking voice.

"i'm not talking about killing Crane, or Cobblepot, o-or Dent! im talking about him... just him. and doing it because..." Jason had to pause and take a breath as a prickling sensation filled his eyes and his chest constricted. it was getting harder for him to breath and he was struggling to keep his emotions under control. <p" because he took me away from you... and Dick... and everything i had. every sweet memory we shared together..." Jason unintentionally lowered his gun a little bit.

"i can't.... im sorry..." Bruce hung his head. all he wanted was to take his little baby bird home. to take his little boy home and give him back what he'd lost. but could he? would Jason even give him a second chance?

"That is so sweet..." Joker said, though neither of the other boys paid attention to him.

"well you won't have a choice." Jason quickly replaced his tears with silent rage as he blinked them away and aimed the gun at Bruce again. Jason pulled out his other handgun and threw it to Bruce.

"i won't-"

"this is what it's all been about-" Jason started, cutting the vigilante off.

"this... you, me, and him! now is the time you decide!" Jason snapped. He didn't care. He was pissed off and ready to show it. he didn't care about keeping his emotions in check anymore. He had enough of that bullshit. now was the time for him to let loose. Jason stomped on the chair, breaking it, and grabbed the clown tied to it. he kept the clown close with an arm around his neck.

"if you won't kill this psychotic piece of filth-" Jason put a gun to the joker's head.

"I will! And if you wanna stop me, you're gonna have to kill me! let me die all over again! just a little deja vu, Right?" Jason growled.

"you know i won't-"

Jason rolled his eyes and cut Bruce off,

"I'm gonna blow his deranged brains out and give him what he deserves! and if you want to stop it, you're gonna have to shoot me! your own son!" Jason snapped.

"this is turning even better than i hoped it would, new hoodie!" Joker smiled.

"Jason please..." Bruce tried to reason

"NO! dont fucking "jason" me! you have to decide!"

Bruce narrowed his eyes and dropped the gun Jason had thrown to him on the floor. Jason's eyes widened before settling in an icy glare again.

"it's him or me! you have to decide-" Jason pointed the gun toward Bruce,

"decide now, do it! him... or me!" Jason's blood was boiling. Why was Bruce so uncooperative? Jason mentally scolded himself for not expecting this. Bruce was a stubborn hardass. nothing new. Jason sighed. knowing Bruce would find a way to block or dodge the bullet, he pulled the trigger. Jason didn't expect what happened next. Bruce had whirled around and threw a batarang directly into the barrel of the gun just as his son pulled the trigger. The gun exploded in Jason's hand and he was propelled backward, letting go of the joker. the clown burst into laughter.

"i can't believe you got him! you expert rootin' tootin' eagle-eyed goth-loving marksmen! i love it. you managed to find a way to win! Yet it's ironic cause everybody still loses!" Jason carefully stood up, groaning in pain as he clutched his now bloody and burnt hand close to his chest. He pulled out a detonator. when he saw it Bruce's eyes went wide as they danced around the room looking for the newly announced bomb. Jason noticed. He smirked and pressed the little red button and the bomb started to beep as it counted down to boom time. Jason sat, satisfied, against the wall, the smirk still playing on his lips. The Joker burst into laughter as he noticed it was the same bomb that took the little bird's life a few years ago. Bruce went to deactivate the bomb, but was tackled by the joker.

'"no, don't spoil it! this is better! i'm the only one who's gonna get what he wants tonight!" the clown laughed as he wrapped his hands around the bats throat.

"yes! bing, bang boom, we all go out together! you, me, the kid! don't you just love happy endings?" Joker monologued, finishing with spine-chilling laughter. Bruce glanced at the bomb and knew there wasn't much time left. He wasn't going to let Jason down again. not like this...

Putting an end to the clown's laughter, Bruce punched him in the face. He then pushed the clown off of him and bolted up and sprinted toward his son. He reefed Jason up off the ground, ran into the bathroom and jumped out through the window, just barely missing the heat of the explosion. then everything went black. God knows how many hours passed before Bruce woke up in the medical wing of the batcave.

"ah, master Bruce! you're awake.'' Alfred greeted with an all too familiar, kind, welcoming smile.

"Alfred..." Bruce returned the butler's gesture.

"is... is Jason here...?" Bruce asked hesitantly.

"no? mr. Kent swung by with you in his arms in a panic. He heard the explosion and came to gotham to see if everything was alright." Alfred explained.

"Oh? heh. I'll have to remember to thank Clark later, then. where's my phone?"

"what for, sir?"

"i need to call Dick."

"you'll find a small device in your ear that is advised against being taken out that is capable of doing such things, Master Bruce. it allows you to open private channels to these people called your family." Alfred said as he grabbed some fresh bandages to change the ones currently on Bruce. Bruce sighed and smiled at his old friend's sarcasm.

needless to say, Dick was surprised, and albeit a little bit irritated that he'd been woken up at five in the morning by an annoying beeping in his ear.

"hello...?" Dick slurred grumpily.

"well, good morning to you too, kiddo." Bruce's voice rang sarcastically through from the other end.

"oh shit- Bruce?" the younger ebony was sitting bolt upright in bed now.

"I heard what happened, are you ok? should you even be up right now? Do you need something? should i come down to the manor? are-"

"Dick. i'm fine. no you don't need to drive all the way to the manor this early in the morning." Bruce cut his eldest off before he could be bombarded with more questions.

"i called to talk to you about Jason." Bruce stated.

"oh? Is he at the manor? Did you two sort things out? does he know i recognized him at the grocery store yesterday morning?" Dick was full of hope. hope that shone indescribably bright in his sweet dark blue eyes.

"no... he's not here. we got out of the building just before it blew. I was out before I felt the ground and woke up in the med wing of the cave. i wanted to let you know... im sorry." Bruce said, sadness draping his words in the end. He was just relieved he didn’t have to see the bird’s heartbroken expression that he knew was there.

"oh...-" you could almost see the hopeful light that faded from the bird's eyes. He missed his brother and it showed. He wanted his jase back. his baby bro. his lil wing. his baby bird. his lil jayjay. his jase. his little brother that he lost to the flames.

"ok. thanks for calling... i'll maybe swing by later today if thats ok? bye..." he hung up the call disappointedly. he turned his head to the bedside table where his phone sat. behind his phone sat a small framed photo. a photo of Jason and Dick when they were little. their cheeks were red and rosy and they were stuffed in winter coats. In the photo they had the biggest smiles on their faces as they held up their customized sleds together, emphasizing that they had just done their traditional sledding together in the forest behind the manor. the young, hurt and broken bird smiled weakly.

"come home soon, lil wing... i miss you...."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Happy Easter! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Don’t forget to follow my IG (@/shooting.broken.arrows) and tune in next Sunday for chapter 19!! Hope you are all having a great day and having a good Easter!


	19. Guilt and regret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry this chapter may seem a little short, but I swear it’s over the thousand work mark! Word count is close To 1250 I promise!

Months had passed since what Bruce started referring to as "the warehouse incident". It was now April. Almost All the bats hated this month. Alfred included. Hell, even Barbara hated the month. The only bat who didn't really understand why they hated the month so much was Tim. Sure He knew what happened to Jason and he knew when he'd passed away and he knew that Bruce had lied to Dick, but he just didn't understand how much Jason meant to Bruce, Alfred and Dick, so it was hard for him to absolutely despise the month as much as the rest of them.

After a long day of work at the police Station Dick was stumbling tiredly through the front door of his apartment. He closed the door and leaned against it. He loved Bruce, he really did. The man was his father no questions asked, but Dick was in no mood to tolerate his bullshit right now. Especially not now. It was April 24. Three days before Jason's death. Three days Dick could've been spending happily with his little brother. This was when Dick was at the peak of breaking down. He even unexpectedly stopped fighting crime. He didn't intend to, but he just stopped putting the suit on. When he thought about doing it he cringed and glared at that stupid black and blue suit. That stupid black and blue suit that meant he was a hero. Hero? Yeah right. Some hero he was if he couldn't save his own brother. Vigilantes be damned. Dick didn't want any part of that anymore. That was what got Jason killed. There was one thing that never went said between the bats. Never said but everyone knew it. And that was that Dick blamed himself for not being able to be there to protect his little brother. His little wing. His partner in crime. His rock that kept him grounded. But now his rock was gone and Dick felt like he'd lost the one thing keeping his feet on the floor. He felt like he was skyrocketing without the one thing that kept him grounded. And he hated it. He let out a shaky breath and started walking over to the couch in the main living area of his apartment. Just as he sat down his phone started ringing. Who the hell would be calling him at midnight? Wait. Oh god no. No. No anyone but him. He was the last person Dick wanted to talk too at midnight, overworked, overtired and sleep deprived, and all round exhausted. All the young bird wanted was to go to bed. with a heavy sigh Dick pulled out his phone and checked the caller ID. He glared at the screen when he saw who it was.

"what do you want." Dick answered the phone, irritated and tired.

"I'm sorry I know it's late, but I need your help. I need Nightwing's help. I've got trouble down in Gotham. It's Jason and I need you to help bring him down."

"fuck- Bruce are you kidding me?!? I don't do the capes and cowl shit anymore! I'm done! The hero bit? I'm still all in, but not the capes and cowls. I'm a cop. And I intend to stay that way. I'm done." Dick growled through gritted teeth.

"if Jason had asked you you'd help." Bruce said without hesitation."

"don't you fucking _dare_ talk about Jason around this time. Not around me." Dick snapped, his voice low and warning.

"Dick please-"

"you asked for my help but my answer is no. I'm done with the capes and cowls, Bruce."

"but why? Why'd you quit?" Bruce asked, knowing he wouldn't get Dick to cave and go after Jason. Not around this time of month. Dick scoffed.

"You think I quit?! God, Bruce this is why started living away from home. This is why I started only staying at the manor after long missions and on weekends. Because you don't see things the way the rest of us do! I didn't quit being Nightwing, I just realized I could do more good as Dick Grayson. The capes and cowls aren't all they're cracked up to be. It got Jason killed! It got Barbara shot for God's sake! Capes and cowls get people killed and I don't want any part of it anymore, Bruce. So my answer is no. I can't trust you. Especially after you lied to me the way you did when I was 17." Dick hadn't realized he'd raised and threateningly lowered his voice throughout his speech.

"You're still mad at me for lying to you." Bruce said slowly. He'd thought they'd come to terms and settled things... maybe he was wrong?

"fucking god, that's your takeaway from that?!? Yes! I am! Maybe you need a little reminder of exactly what happened-" Dick hissed before giving a brief play by play of when he came home to his baby bird's name on a headstone.

"I found out at one o'clock in the afternoon. That was when I finally ran out to the gardens. Did you know that it didn't even sink in that my _baby brother_ was gone until 2 in the morning when I locked myself in my room?! I had a panic attack and called Wally at 2 Am because the realization that he was gone finally hit me like a bus! I won't help you take him down. find someone else." Dick seethed.

"ok. fine. don't come yelling at me when you have to go visit him in prison then, Dick." Bruce's voice was calm, and steady. He knew Dick was still mad at him, and he knew Dick was gonna snap before too long. so he'd come up with a way for Dick to let everything out. to let Dick yell at him for this one last time.

"you know what i still don't understand, Bruce? after these shitty last few years, to this goddamned second, i still don't understand why. i could've come home for the funeral, but you had to lie. i still wish id never went on that stupid mission. i promised Jase id always had his back. i promise him that i would always be there for him when he needed me, yet i couldn't be there when he needed me most and its my fault for going on that stupid misson!"

there it was. Dick was finally just venting. Dick used the rage to cover up his pain. he put a wall of anger up to hide the ocean of pain and after all these years Bruce finally broke through it.

"you should come down to Gotham, Dick. go and find Jason. not to chase after him or arrest him, but to show that you're still there for him. to show that he still has his big brother cause god knows he needs you and you need him." Bruce needed to get his boys back together. they were falling apart without one another. Dick needed Jason. his baby brother. and Jason needed Dick. his big brother. Dick let out a broken, sad laugh. He didn't even notice the tears that were forming in his eyes.

"you're right...maybe... maybe i should go talk to Jase. I might come down to gotham tomorrow then." Dick smiled softly. Bruce smiled. He succeeded. He was getting his boys back together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is half an hour late, but I hope you enjoy! Don’t forget to tune in next Sunday for chapter 20! To be able to stay updated with chapters and other stories, feel free to follow my Instagram (@/shooting.broken.arrows)! I always post on my story directly after I post the chapter so You’ll always know right away when it’s up!


	20. Difficult choices.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is so late! I’ve been at my Grandparents house and ran out of time to write this last night and ended up forgetting about it, so I rushed to do it this morning, sorry! Hope you enjoy the chapter!!

Dick wandered around Bludhaven without any set destination. He loved going on walks around the city for small walks and just thinking. it gave him a chance to clear his head. He was thinking about his conversation he'd had on the phone the previous week. sure he wanted to see his baby brother, but did his baby brother want to see him? Dick really didn't know. he hoped Jason still wanted Dick to be a part of his life, but h could never know for sure. not until he went to talk to Jason. but he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to go and talk to Jason. Dick never thought he'd be scared of rejection, but here he was. he always said that people would take him as he was or not at all, but he didn't think he could handle taking this kind of rejection from Jason. this was his little brother, and , as much as Dick never admitted it, he needed Jason. he needed him more and more everyday. He just wanted his baby brother back. his baby bird. his little wing. his world. his everything. Jason was Dicks everything and now that that everything was gone Dick felt like he had nothing. and it was an awful and empty feeling straight from hell. Dick could only imagine the pain he'd feel from Jason's rejection and could only think of what his little wing would say...

"where the hell were you when i needed you most?" 

"why didn't you come to talk sooner?" 

"why weren't you there?" 

"do you even really care?" 

just get out of here and leave me alone." thinking it hurt enough, but Dick didn't think he could actually take hearing it. After a few more minutes of walking to think it over, Dick made up his mind. Just once he wanted to be selfish and save himself the pain. He wasn't gonna go see Jason. no matter how much that in itself hurt. He didn't want to give Jason more problems than what he could already possibly be dealing with. yes, Dick loved his brother, but he didn't want to become an issue of Jason's. he was staying away because he loved his little wing. he didn't want to be a burden on Jason. he already felt like a burden to everyone else, and he just couldn't do that to his little bird with all he's been through already. this wasn't his type of thing but he needed something stiff to drink while thinking things over, so he walked into the closet bar he had. sure, he was underaged, but he had a fake ID and he was a good lier. and it wasn't like he looked any younger that 20-21, so he probably wouldn't get questioned. he was gonna be 21 come december anyway. he strolled up to the bartop as he took in his surroundings. 

"what can i get you, kid?" the bartender asked with a smile. 

"when people need to think, what do they usually get?" Dick questioned. 

"aahhh. when people come to think, they get whiskey." She answered. 

"i'll take a bottle, then, thanks." Dick flashed his signature pearly-white smile as he dug out his wallet. He handed the bartender the cash for his drink and sat down on a barstool. He really didn't feel like walking around trying to find an empty table or booth. He spent the next fifteen minutes drinking straight whiskey. within the hour he decided he just needed a stiff drink to calm his nerves, so he ordered a stiff Rye with a splash of Cola, and eventually moved to drinking straight vodka from the glass. he was rounding three hours at this bar, and he could tell he was pushing being at least slightly sober, so he thanked the lady for the drinks and headed home. It was 10:00 at night by the time he got home, so he just hung up his jacket and flopped onto the couch. He was startled when he heard water being poured into a glass accompanied by an all too familiar voice speaking. 

"wow. Dude.... really? never pinned you as the underaged drinker, man." Dick stiffened for a hot second due to surprise but relaxed almost instantly when he recognized who the voice belonged to. 

" and I never pegged you as someone who breaks into people's homes." Dick slurred cooly as he shifted and pressed his face into a pillow. the surprise visitor just chuckled. 

"A: I didn't break in. you gave me a key to your front door the second you bought this place. and B: i brought food, just so ya know." 

"well of course you brought food, Wallz. your you. you always have food." Dick mumbled. Dick could practically hear the eye roll from the redhead behind him. 

"it's your favorite. I bought every kind of cereal I could find. dude your grocery stores are so low on options." Wally said, gesturing to the two bowls, milk, and multiple boxes of cereal on the kitchen island in front of him. Dick laughed, rubbed his eyes, and sat up to face his childhood friend. He could tell he was starting to sober up again. Dick couldn't help but notice the way Wally's eyebrows raised when he saw Dick's face. Dick raised a brow in turn. Wally walked around the kitchen island and sat on the couch next to Dick. 

"dude, i'm gonna be honest. you look like shit. tell me you've been eating properly. is something up?" Wally put his hand on the ebonies shoulder. Dick just buried his head into the crook of Wally's neck in response with a sigh. Wally just started carting his fingers through Dick's soft and fluffy black hair. 

"dude, what's up?" Wally rested his chin on Dicks head, wrapping his arms around the small ebony, continuing to play with the small black locks of hair. 

"i.... i don't know. work has been shit lately and im just conflicted about what to do about Jason. I wanna see him, i do, really, but I-.... i just don't know." Dick huffed, keeping his head on Wallys shoulder. 

"you should eat. it might help with the stress. besides, do you really want this cereal to go to waste?" Dick laughed. 

"no, come on," Dick stood up, running a hand through his hair. Wally stood up and they walked around the island into the kitchen together. 

"thank's, man. you didn't have to do this." Dick said as he selected his favorite cereal of the bunch and began pouring a bowl. 

"dude, this is what best friends are for. Of course i don't have to do stuff like this, but i want to. so i will." Wally said, giving a reassuring, warm smile. a smile that showed nothing but care and kindness. Dick returned the smile and the two sat down on the couch. wally grabbed the remote and turned the Tv on. 

"Netflix? we can have a marathon of whatever." Wally suggested. Dick Glanced at Wally with the spoon of cereal in his mouth and nodded. they decided to watch the cheesiest Romance Comedies they could find eventually started rewatching a show of one of their favorite comedians, John Mulany. The night ended with Dick snuggled up under Wally's arm with a blue fluffy blanket wrapped around him, their bowls of cereal forgotten about on the coffee table in front of them along with all Dicks problems and worries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t forget to follow my Instagram to keep updated on this story!! Tune in next Sunday for chapter 21!! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	21. Cuts, bruises and popcorn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! I am so sorry I haven’t been updating this story recently. I fell out of DC into other fandoms for a while and decided to take a break from the weekly chapters for this story. BUT I AM BACK! I will be posting weekly chapters again starting now! And as an exciting little announcement, I will be turning this Story into a live action fan series that will be up on my YouTube channel! Each episode will be one of the chapters! Chapter one will be episode one, chapter two will be the second episode, chapter three will be the third episode, chapter seven will be the seventh episode (yes I know I skipped three numbers there XD). But I’m excited to turn it into a real show! I myself will be playing the role of Jason, and I for one can’t wait! Anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter! I’ll have more insight for you on the show next weekend with chapter 22!!

After Jason got home from attempting to confront Bruce and make the Joker pay for all he did, he was an absolute mess. his head was pounding and his hand was throbbing after the gun had exploded in his hand. his face hurt immeasurably as well, given his broken nose, and his severely cut and bruised cheek. He'd had tons of little cuts all over his face as well, with a fresh slit through his brow. his ribs hurt a lot as well. Jason could only imagine the hissy fit Dick would be having if he were there. The thought almost made Jason smile. and he probably would have laughed a little too, had he not been so tired and in so much pain.

Roy nearly hit the ceiling when he heard the safehouse front door slam open. 

"hey, Jaybird- ohmygod what happened!?" Roy ran instinctively to his friend's side as he saw the bloody, exhausted mess that was Jason Todd enter the room. Jason put his uninjured hand up to silence his friend. 

"not now. i just.. i just need a minute." Jason muttered. 

"to what? ignore your injuries and go straight to bed like i know you will?" Roy questioned defensively. 

"fuck off Roy. i just need a minute to get cleaned up." jason said, slightly less patient with his redheaded friend. 

"are you not even gonna tell me how it went?" Roy said, keeping the defensive tone in his voice. 

"well considering i had my face smashed into tiled walls, a bathroom sink, and a toilet seat, along with being kicked in the ribs multiple times, what the hell do you think Roy!? take one look at me and tell me how you think it went!" Jason snapped before storming off toward the bathroom. Jason came back out of the bathroom roughly 15-20 minutes later, in a fresh black t-shirt and jeans, his hand bandaged up and his face patched up as well as Jason could handle doing. 

Jason couldn't help the tired offended look he had on his face when he heard an impatient and disappointed sigh from the redhead, who'd reseated himself on the couch within the 20 minutes Jason was in the bathroom. 

"sit down. i'll go get the medical supplies." Roy said impatiently. 

"for what?" Jason said, very short tempered. 

"you need stitches, Jason. now sit down." Roy said, standing up and pointing to the couch. 

"Roy, i am not in the mood to fight with you tonight." Jason said stiffly as he hung his head softly. 

"then don't, and just sit down." Roy countered. Jason sighed and, for once, did as he was told without any oppositions. Roy went to the bathroom, grabbed the medical supplies he needed and headed back to Jason on the couch, sitting down next to the exhausted ebony. "hold still. this'll sting a bit with how bruised your cheek is." Roy said as he began to stitch up the cuts on Jason's cheek. Roy bit his lip as the ebony winced in pain. his cheek was extremely swollen. 

."you said your face was smashed into a tile wall?" Roy questioned in an attempt to distract his friend from the pain. 

"y-yeah... hit the wall hard enough that the tile broke." Jason responded. 

"and your nose... what happened there, again?" 

"Hit the sink in the bathroom, ricochet off that and hit the toilet seat. ended up with a broken nose." Jason explained. 

"and i could have sworn you left with a leather jacket too..." Roy said slowly. 

"Bruce burnt it to ash." Jason said tightly. He was pissed off about losing that jacket more than anything. it was the only thing he had of his big brother, and now that was taken away from him too. first his life, then everything he'd ever cared about after being brought back by Ra's al Gouhl, and now the only thing he had left of his brother. right now he had more of a grudge against Bruce than the Joker because of that jacket, and he wanted nothing more than to go back and punch Bruce as hard as he could for burning it. 

"im sorry, dude. i know how much that jacket meant to you..." Roy said, giving an unintentionally extremely sympathetic look. 

"it's... its alright.. right now i just wanna get patched up and go to bed. so you think you could speed that stitch work up a little?" Jason asked with a soft smile. a smile so small that you'd have to have known Jason a long time to even notice he was smiling at all. 

"haha, i can try." 

Roy finished patching Jason up and took the medical supplies back to the bathroom. He came back to the couch, where Jason had still been seated, with a handful of different movies and shows they owned on DVD. 

"movie marathon night? i grabbed your favorites." Roy said softly, placing the movies down on the coffee table in front of him to show the selection. 

"i thought i told you i wanted to go to bed?" Jason questioned. Roy gave Jason puppy dog eyes and knew it'd be easier to just give in and watch a few movies. Jason did kind of owe Roy for giving him a proper patch up, especially after the way Jason snapped at the red head upon returning to the safe house. 

"fine. put in.... this one! i'll go make the popcorn." Jason said as he pointed to one of the movies layed out on the coffee table. 

"ok>! don't forget to put on the dill pickle seasoning!" Roy called after Jason as the younger walked toward the kitchen. 

"Right, got it! you put that stuff on every time!" Jason laughed softly. 

"It's good!" Roy protested. 

"it's over powering! at least when you put it on. You drench the popcorn in the stuff!" Jason said as he put the mentioned food in the microwave and set the timer. 

"oh what ever! not everyone can be a perfect chef and baker like you! not all of us got to grow up cooking and baking in the kitchen with Alfred!" Roy defended as he got the movie all set up to play. Jason just shook his head with a small smile as he leaned against the kitchen counter. a laid back movie night would be good for him. he needed to kick back and unwind after the events from earlier that evening. even if Roy was only doing it to keep an eye on Jason as long as he could. if there was anyone who fussed over Jason as much as Dick, it was Roy. both knew how reckless Jason could be. which lead to both of them never wanting Jason out of sight when the little bird was injured. Jason finished making the popcorn, went and sat down on the couch, and started the movie. the rest of the night, Jason had an absolute ball. screw Batman. who needed the big jerk anyway, right? Jason had all he needed sitting right next to him, with blue eyes and red hair and the friendliest smile. when Roy was around Jason felt like there was nothing else he needed. Roy was there and that was enough for him. enough to make his evening better by far. Jason and Roy spent the rest of their evening laughing, smiling and watching every movie they could find. and that's when Jason realized it was time for him to decide, instead of Bruce. but Jason actually made a decision. and Jason decided who the hell needed a Bruce Wayne when you've got a Roy Harper? Jason didn't need Bruce. he had all he needed sitting right next to him. so yeah. screw Bruce Wayne. Jason had Roy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don’t forget to keep up with me on my Instagram @shooting.broken.arrows for weekly updates on the story so you know what’s going on and know right away when a new chapters been uploaded! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! See you all next week!


	22. Who doesn’t like chocolate chip pancakes?

Jason groaned as his alarm clock went off. it had been months since what jason had started referring to as the 'proof that Bruce doesn't really care' incident. his hand had healed up nicely, along with his nose and cheek, and the cuts were nothing more than scars now. Jason had made sure to keep a low profile. He knew how to hold a grudge better than anyone and was indefinately still angered with Bruce. but he couldn't stop thinking about his brother. did Dick know he was alive? Did Dick know that the infamous Red Hood was really his baby brother? his lil wing? Jason could only imagine how disappointed in him Dick would be if he knew Jason was Red Hood. he had a strong feeling Dick wouldn't want to see him at all. so whenever he spotted Dick around town he made sure to travel in shadows and keep his distance. the Joker took everything Jason'd ever had. everything he'd ever loved and cared about. Jason didn't want to face the fact that that meant his older brother too. the one who'd jokingly put coal in Jason's stocking for christmas one year. the one who was always there to patch him up first. the one who was always first to be by Jason's side. the one who was always there for him before anyone else. the one who was Jason's first instinct to call if something ever went wrong. Now it seemed like the only one who cared about Jason anymore was Roy. and Even then Jason felt like a burden on the archer and constantly questioned why Roy put up with him. Jason had to admit that he did think about what would happen if he did risk everything and go and talk to Dick. but he had a pretty strong feeling it wouldn't turn out well. as far as Jason was concerned, he was still dead to Dick. so whenever Roy brought up the idea of going to visit Dick, Jason shut him right down and distracted himself from Roy's reasonings with baking pastries, muffins and anything else he felt like making. one thing he always made was cinnabuns because he knew Roy liked when he baked them, and found it a good way to shut the redhead up about going to see his older brother. He couldn't talk with his mouth full of cinnamon buns. but today was just another day. and Jason knew that as he slapped his alarm clock to shut it off. He groaned and sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. After a minute of just sitting there he finally managed to get out of bed and start getting ready for the day. He walked up to his small dresser, and pulled out a simple pair of black jeans and a plain black T-shirt. He grabbed a towel and some underwear, and headed for the shower. Once he'd gotten out, dried off and got dressed he peeked into the spare guest bedroom where Roy usually slept. the sheets where a mess and the lights were off, but the redhead was nowhere to be found. Jason then decided to head to the kitchen and make breakfast, to have something nice prepared for Roy when he shows up. Jason stepped into the kitchen and couldn't help but smile at the sight before him as he leant against the entryway. Roy was standing in the kitchen, already making breakfast, and judging by the portions, he was cooking for both Jason and himself, singing softly to the music he had quietly playing on his phone, swaying side to side. Jason quickly whipped out his phone and snapped a picture before Roy noticed him. He stuffed his phone back in his back pocket and strolled up to Roy.

"whatcha makin? smells good." Jason said as he made his way across the kitchen. 

"oh, Jaybird! morning! i'm making pancakes and bacon with fruit and dip! hey- do you like chocolate chips in your pancakes?" Roy asked. 

"wouldn't eat them any other way. I mean, who doesn't like chocolate chips in their pancakes?" Jason smiled. "anything i can do to help?" Jason asked. "no. my treat. you always make the meals. high time you got a break and someone else did it for once." Roy said, Jason laughed and shook his head. 

"whatever, man." 

they spent the next while chatting in the kitchen until the food was ready, and then sat on the couch, eating peacefully while watching TV. the rest of the day went smoothly. they went out for lunch and Jason cooked a big fancy meal for supper and then decided he needed a bit of fresh air and wanted to go on a walk. he invited Roy to join him, but Roy said he had some stuff he needed to to for Oliver and whatever before he went back to Star city for the weekend anyway, and stayed home at the safe house. jason through on a casual brown leather jacket, and left to stroll the streets of gotham. it almost felt like he was on patrol again. He made sure to avoid too crowded places though, and the more popular areas of gotham. He couldn't risk an old school friend or someone he knew from the streets recognizing him. Even if he did look a lot older and now had a white tuft of hair mixed in with his black. he went into a back alley, and climbed up onto the roof. He liked it up high and decided to stroll the rooftops of Gotham city for a while. it was fun, hopping from rooftop to rooftop, the the light gotham breeze blowing through his hair. he almost felt like he was twelve years old, putting on that robin suit for the first time. he still took care to be cautious and keep an eye out for batman and that little new Robin that had replaced him. he got to one particular building he was fond off and decided to climb to the roof. the top of the building was lined with Gargoyles and as soon as Jason got to the top he went to his favorite one. 

"hey, long time so see, batman look-alike.'' Jason greeted softly, referring to the grumpy expression upon the statue's face. Jason sat down next to it and stared over the city. He had a perfect view from up here and could see almost the whole city. Jason was completely calm and relaxed until he heard the soft pitter patter of familiar footsteps. Jason sat still. He was hoping that whoever was there would just go away if he didn't acknowledge them. so he kept facing forward. Surely they were going to go away at some point, right? unless maybe they wanted to come up here to relax. Jason started to panic a little when the footsteps, who hadn't been there for long, stopped dead in their tracks. Jason could tell that whoever was there was indefinitely staring at him. Jason just exhaled quietly, and kept facing the city. surely the figure would go away before too long. or so Jason thought until the all too familiar voice of a black and blue coloured vigilante from Bluddhaven spoke only one word to announce his presence. "Jason...?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don’t forget to tune in next Sunday for chapter 23! Make sure to follow my Instagram, @/shooting.broken.arrows for weekly updates on this story!


	23. Contemplative, executive, cooperative.

Jason went stiff and his brows furrowed as the all too familiar voice called out his name. He felt a drop of rain as he slowly turned around to face the man he once knew standing behind him. how Dick found Jason was beyond him. as far as Jason knew Dick didn't even know he was alive. yet here they were, standing in the rain on the rooftop for the first time in who knows how long. When was the last time they met? Jason couldn't remember. and that wasn't something on Dick's mind, as he stood there in that black and blue suit, his hair getting soaked and blown in every which way in the wind and rain.

"so it really is you. I wasn't imagining the grocery store encounter and Bruce wasn't messing with me..." Dick said softly. Jason stood up and slowly took a few steps in Dick's direction. 

"long time no see, i guess, huh?" Jason said quietly. Dick let out a soft chuckle. 

"Yeah... something like that." Dick reached up, removed his domino mask, and stuffed it into his utility belt, stepping closer to Jason. 

"your eyes are a lot greener than i remember.." Dick commented. Jason smiled. 

"think that was a side effect of the lazarus pit, I noticed that too." Jason responded. Dick glanced around his little brother's face, taking in his features. Jason looked so different from when Dick last saw him before he left for that off-world mission. 

"looks like you've gotten a couple new scars since i last saw you too..." Dick murmured as he carefully grazed Jason's cheek with his fingers. Jason glanced down to his cheek and realized Dick was referring to the scars from the bathroom tile cutting open his cheek in his fight with Bruce. 

"Tt. yea you have Bruce to thank for that.." Jason muttered. Dick's hand froze and Jason instantly knew he shouldn't have said that. 

"b.. Bruce did this...?" 

Jason bit his lip. 

"he.. kind of smashed my face into a tile wall.." Jason mumbled. Dick frowned. 

"dick it's fine, it was during our fight at the warehouse." Jason stated, taking note of the displeased expression on his brother's face. Jason was admittedly surprised when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him as Dick pulled him into a tight hug. 

"i missed you, jase..." Dick mumbled into the crook of Jason's neck. Jason hugged back. tight. tighter than he'd ever hugged someone before because he felt as though if he let go, Dick would be torn away from him all over again. 

"this might be overstepping, but.. you should come to the manor someday. Alfred misses you, I miss you, Bruce wants to apologize. for everything. you should meet Tim. you should come home..." Dick said. 

"dick, i... i don't know...." 

"You don't have too.. but just at least think about it? for me? it'd be nice to see you around again." Dick said. Jason huffed. 

"fine." Jason didn't have to see Dick's face to know he was smiling. the way Dick had suddenly stiffened for a second and let go of Jason implied that he hadn't paid attention to the fact that they were still hugging. 

"sorry i.. uh.. that was- uhmm.." Dick mumbled, tripping over his words. Jason waved a hand to silence Dick with a soft smile. 

"don't worry bout it. sooo...Tim, huh? that's the name of the kid who replaced me?" Jason asked. 

"yeah.. uh but he didn't replace you, Jase. no one could do that. He just.. took up the mantle of Robin. sort of like you did when i became Nightwing. he's a good kid. I think you'd like him. i think he'd be excited to meet you." Dick explained. they stood and talked in the rain for a few more minutes and Jason took note of the way Dick was shivering in the wind and wrapped his arms around himself. Jason slipped his leather jacket off. 

"here. your freezing, take this." Jason handed his brother the jacket. 

"but what about you?" Dick questioned. 

"i'll be fine till i get home. you should get back to the manor before you catch a cold though. my number's still active so feel free to call me anytime." Jason said. 

"ok.. and thanks. i'll try to remember to get this back to you at some point." Dick chuckled as he slipped the warm jacket on. Jason left out a small laugh. 

"don't worry about it. i have like fifty of them, hehe, so keep it if you want." Jason said. 

"thanks. i'll uh.. see you around i guess?" Dick said as he turned to walk away. 

"yeah. call me anytime." Jason said as he went for a different way off the roof. 

"will do. see you around, lil wing." Dick said. and with that both boys made their ways home, Dick to the manor and Jason to his safehouse where Roy was waiting for him. 

Bruce smiled softly as he heard the little pitter patter of footsteps enter the batcave. He could tell by the sound of the footsteps that it was Dick entering the cave. 

"there you are. I was wondering where you went." Bruce said as Dick walked up and stood behind him. 

"hey. yeah i decided to go for a little stroll around the city." Dick explained. 

"where'd you get that leather jacket?" Bruce questioned. 

"Jason." Dick responded casually. Bruce stopped, throwing a glance at Dick. 

"jason never had a jacket that size growing up..." Bruce said slowly. 

"he leant it to me for the walk home cause it started raining." Dick explained. 

"you met Jason while you were out?" Bruce asked. 

"yep. Anywho, i'm gonna change out of this wet suit and head to bed. I have to work tomorrow so i'll be leaving early tomorrow morning for Bludhaven. 

"kay, goodnight." Bruce said. 

"night, B." Dick smiled softly and headed upstairs. After Bruce was sure Dick was upstairs he turned and looked at the old suit Jason wore as Robin. Bruce looked at that suit and remembered the first time he wore it. Dick was almost seventeen and Jason had just turned fifteen. Jason's red x suit that he wore while Dick was still Robin was still hanging in its own glass case. Bruce remembered Jason's first night as Robin crystal clear... 

"what's taking him so long?" Dick questioned, leaning against the batmobile in his brand new Nightwing uniform. 

"i don't know." Bruce said. 

"perhaps he's primping. as i recall master Richard spent nearly an hour on the phone with master Wallace looking at his reflection the first night he patrolled with you, sir." Alfred suggested. 

"hey! I wanted to make sure I looked good for my first night of patrol with the batman." Dick laughed, using air quotes at the end of his sentence. Bruce shook his head with a smile. 

'"Jason, get on out here or we're goin on patrol without ya!" Bruce yelled playfully from his place near the batcomputer, standing next to Alfred. Alfred dropped the tray he was holding out of shock as Jason popped out from behind the computer. 

"my word!" Alfred exclaimed. 

"Hah! got you!" Jason laughed, pointing at Bruce. 

"would've, if i hadn't seen you slip behind the computer banks three minutes ago." Bruce said with a smile. 

"Nah, I got you." Jason said, smiling as well. Bruce chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm. 

"how does it feel?" Bruce asked. 

"Are you Kidding? it feels awesome!" Jason exclaimed, throwing air kicks and punches. 

"I'm Robin, the boy wonder!" Jason said with even more enthusiasm than his previous sentence. 

"good to know you're excited. now let's go!" Dick laughed, gesturing to the batmobile. 

"C'mon, old man! we got bad guys that need chasing!" Jason tugged at Bruce's wrist and ran to the batmobile, flipping into his seat. Bruce shook his head with a laugh and tugged his cowel over his head. him and Dick hopped into the batmobile and the three of them took off. 

Bruce smiled as he looked at the old suit. and frowned slightly as he remembered it was that suit that took his son's life. as he remembered how light and hollow Jason's unconscious body felt in his arms as he kneeled in the rubble of the blown up warehouse. Bruce sighed, and turned back to the batcomputer. He had some work to do. work that meant placing certain precautions so that he didn't make the same mistake with Tim. or anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Hope you enjoyed this weeks chapter! Don’t forget to tune in next Sunday for chapter 24! Follow my IG for weekly updates @/shooting.broken.arrows!!


	24. A little payback.

Jason got home and walked through the door,

"yo, Roy, im back." Jason called out. no response. that's weird, Roy never leaves without properly saying goodbye to Jason. and he always responds with a peppy, upbeat 'hey, Jaybird! welcome back!" when Jason comes back home. Roy was here when Jason had left, so why wasn't he answering? had he fallen asleep? The redhead did have a pretty shitty sleep schedule. Then again Jason wasn't one to talk when it came to his own. The late nights he's had are something that goes unspoken of. fifteen minutes later and Jason had checked almost the entire safe house, except for the coffee table where Roy had been when Jason'd left. He saw nothing at first but knew something felt off about the whole area. so he looked closer. That was when he found a little note under the table addressed to the Red Hood.

_"dear, mr. Hood. or perhaps you prefer just 'Red'. whatever, it isn't like me to care and there's really no point in making this 'official' so let's get to it. I wanted to get a little payback for all the trouble you caused me a handful of months ago with your little bamboozle of the joker. Now I know you're probably wondering where your little redheaded friend is. i sat and waited and watched to try and find a good way to get back at you so here we are. my men have him. i know you're smart so i've left clues all around this godforsaken city. you get till two AM to find him or my men get to have a treat and finish him. and here's your first clue. Dr. Harleen Quinzell's love affair. good luck, you might need it, for your friend's sake.   
~sincerely, BM."_

the letter hadn't even hit the ground before Jason was rushing to put his gear on, cursing under his breath. he should've known playing Black Mask the way he did would come back to smack him right in the ass. and now Roy's paying the Price. he said Roy was alive, but not safe from harm. Who knew what Black Mask's goon's were doing to Roy? Jason threw on his gear as quick as possible and bolted out into the rainy night, snatching a leather jacket on his way out the door. He couldn't do this by himself. He needed help. the clue obviously meant his second clue lay with the Joker but how the hell was Jason supposed to get into Arkham? Jason sighed as he bolted into a back alley and climbed onto a roof, standing in the moonlight and rain, his hair and pants already soaked, with a slick layer of rain water on the outside of his jacket. he pursed his lips, swallowed, and pulled out his phone. he checked the time. Midnight. that gave him two hours to find and answer all the clues, and save Roy. Jason knew he couldn't do this on his own. The first clue itself proved this scavenger hunt was designed to be simple, yet impossible for Jason. Jason sighed and dialed an all too familiar number. a number he'd had memorized since he was twelve years old. it rang and rang, and for a second, with tears in his eyes, Jason though the person wasn't gonna pick up. until he heard a tired, groggy voice ring through from the other end.

"mm.. 'ello..?" the receiver slowly rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Dick! Thank god, I need your help. please, i'm sorry i know it's late but-"

"say no more. Do I need to suit up? Where do i need to meet you?" Dick was wide awake now, noting the pure distress in his little brother's voice. no matter what, Dick would always be there for his little wing when he needed him. any time. any place.

"yes, you'll have to suit up, please. meet me at Arkham, i'll explain everything there, we don't have much time." Jason said.

"ok. i'll be there as soon as i can. i'll see you there." Dick said.

"thank you..." Jason let out a relieved sigh he hadn't realized he was holding as a thankful tear slid down his cheek. This was why Dick was the golden child. He was willing to drop everything at a moment's notice for his family. Jason wiped the tear from his eye and instantly headed to arkham.

Dick jumped out of bed and bolted for the old grandfather clock on the main floor. He nearly plowed Tim over in his rush in the hall.

"woah- hey! Dick? You ok?" Tim asked, taking note of Dick's frantic state.

"oh god- sorry, Tim. uh Jason called and he needs my help. i'm going to meet him right now." Dick said, slowly walking backward down the hall.

"Jas-OH! well-let me come, I could help!" Tim said, his face lighting up a little in the moonlight shining through the windows.

"shouldn't you be home by now, Timmy?" Dick questioned.

"parents were busy tonight, y'know, the usual. not like they'd even be there if i was at home. but they couldn't get a babysitter so Bruce let me stay the night here. Now Jason’s waiting, so we should suit up! or am I allowed to come or not?" Tim asked enthusiastically. Dick smiled, ruffling Tim's dark hair. this boy had become like a baby brother to him in such a short time.

"of course. and you're right, Jason's waiting. now let's go suit up!" Dick said, lightly pulling Tim by the wrist down the stairs to the clock. within minutes they were suited up and on their way to meet Jason. they found Jason near the entrance and bolted up to him.

"Dick! thank you! really i... oh.. you brought the kid, huh?" Jason began, but stopped as he noticed the little boy take a stance beside Dick.

"yeah, heh. he uh. he wanted to come. this is Tim. the new Robin. Robin, This is Jason, or Red Hood i guess i should say." Dick smiled awkwardly. Jason chuckled.

"good thing B ain't here." Jason said. Tim let out a small chuckle and stuck his hand out.

"uhm yeah, im Ti-er.. Robin! Robin. i'm Robin! nice to meet me-er YOU! nice to meet you!" Tim struggled. Jason chuckled.

"Timmer? sounds sort of like Timber." Jason smirked, shaking the small birds hand, which was significantly smaller than Jason's.

"oh no. Jase I know you give everyone nicknames but does his really have to be another word for wood?" Dick asked. Jason laughed.

"depends on whether or not i find something else to call him, Goldie." Jason said.

"alright so what's going on? why are we here?" Dick asked. as soon as he asked the question he saw the small smirk fade from Jason's face. Jason sighed, hanging his head a little, looking at his helmet that was hanging off the handle bar of his bike.

"it's a long story..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Hope you enjoyed this weekends chapter! Don’t forget to check back in next Sunday for chapter 25!! Follow my Instagram for weekly updates and other stories @/shooting.broken.arrows !!


	25. Hunting blind

"if it's a long story, then shouldn't you start talking? i take it we don't have much time." Dick said. Jason sighed. 

"long story turned not as long, a handful of months ago, i kind of majorly played Black Mask, or Roman Sionis, and tricked him into breaking the joker out of arkham. and now Sionis wants some payback for getting played like that. he....-" jason paused too exhale a shaky breath. 

"-he kidnapped Roy god knows how long ago, and i have till two AM to save him or Mask'll order his men to..." Jason swallowed and drew a finger across his throat. 

"so why are we here? i don't feel like Black Mask would hide Roy in a place like this." Dick stated. 

"he left me clues all around town. first clue is with the clown." Jason said. 

"..oohh..." 

"there's a catch though. I can't get into arkham. that's why I called. He designed this scavenger hunt for me to be able to figure out the tasks, but not be able to complete them. He didn't take into account that I could call you for backup, though. I need you to go into arkham and get the clue for me." jason said. 

"please..."

Dick nodded. and started walking up to the gates. Tim started to follow and Dick waved him off. "uh uh. you're staying out here, timmy. you're still pretty new to this whole gig. I'll go in solo. The staff know me. they may try to start up some trouble with a new bird around. you can go in when you're with Bruce, but trust me this is not a place i think you'd want to visit. stay out here with Jason." Dick instructed. 

After about fifteen minutes, Dick had come back out, looking dishevelled and uncomfortable. Then again he always looked like that after a visit to Arkham. especially if he'd been there to see the Joker. 

"did you get the clue?" Jason asked as Dick walked up to them. 

"apparently the clue was 'who's the richest dead family in gotham' which was obviously referring to B and the waynes. your third clue has to be somewhere around the manor." Dick explained. 

"then let's go, we don't have time to waste. we need to get there and find the clue. we only have till 2:00 AM to save Roy." Jason said, tugging his helmet over his head, swinging a leg over his bike. Dick and Tim hopped on their bikes and they quickly followed one another up to the wayne estate. 

Once they'd reached the manor, Jason pulled over and stopped outside the gate. 

"Bruce and i aren't on the 'best' terms right now... it'll be easier if you two go and leave me here. just hurry." Jason stated. 

"any idea where the clue would be?" Dick asked. 

"well he wouldn't have been able to get inside the manor grounds, right? not without tripping security. so it has to be somewhere outside the manor grounds. where would he have hid it that's outside the manor grounds?" 

"the burial sight. where Thomas and Martha were buried, and where Jason was supposed to be. it's just outside the manor grounds, in the back garden, it has to be there." Dick said. with that, they all headed to the Gravesite of Thomas and Martha Wayne, and Jason Todd. they found the clue after about fifteen minutes and then were sent on a wild goose chase all over the city finding clue after clue. they finally found the last clue in Grant park downtown. It was the hardest clue yet. 

"what does the clue say?" Jason asked, leaning over Dick's shoulder. 

"I'm not crime alley, I'm not the bowery and I'm not Burnley. i am a bird's home with a cape. what am i?" Dick read allowed. 

"ok i'm stumped...." Tim said. 

"ugghh what does that mean?" Jason grumbled. he checked the time. 

"uh oh. guys we better crack this clue fast. it's 1:30. we have half an hour left to save Roy." Jason said. Jason quickly muttered the clue under his breath, as though it would help him figure it out. Jason gasped. 

"Robbinsville! He's in Robbinsville! the bird refers to the name, and the cape, it refers to Cape Carmine, which is in that part of town! Crime alley, the Bowery and Burnley were hints to the part of town we should be looking in!" Jason said. 

"Jason you're a genius! now c'mon, let's go save Roy!" Dick said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Sorry I know this chapter is a bit short, but I had absolutely no motivation to write it this morning and I forgot to write it yesterday. Either way I hope you enjoyed! Next weeks chapter will hopefully be full length! Don’t forget to tune in for chapter 26! And don’t forget to follow my Instagram @/shooting.broken.arrows for weekly updates!


	26. Motivations and disappointment

Hey all! I am sorry to disappoint, but for the time being I am putting this story on hold. You may have noticed I missed posting chapters these last few weeks. That’s because I am truly stuck with this story and have been struggling with it for a while now. Usually i’m able to pull myself out of these sticky spots but right now, the lack of both motivation and inspiration are getting to me right now, so I’m taking yet another break from writing this story. Follow my Instagram (@shooting.broken.arrows) to stay posted!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the story! I will hopefully try to have another chapter come out next Sunday! Either way, stay tuned and I hope you enjoy!


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